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PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. 
REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. 



R E F O R T 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL 



E . R . M U 13 a E , 

UNITED STATES COMMISSIONEK, 



ASSISTED BY 



JOHN L. HAYE S, 

SECRETARY OF THE "NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOOL MANUFACTURERS 



18(30 




WASHINGTON: 

O O V E R X M E K T P R I X T T X G OFFICE. 
1 868. 






■5 




CONTENTS 



SECTION I. 



WOOL AND ITS CULTURE. 

Varieties of wool in European markets — Necessity of protection to American wools — Cloth- 
ing wools — Silesian and Prussian clothing wools — Culture of fine clothing wools in the 
United States desirable — American clothing wools — Vermont sheep in demand in Austra- 
lia — Merino combing wools — Sheep husbandry in France — English combing wool — Che- 
viot sheep — Problems to be resolved in American sheep husbandry— Vast scale of sheep 
husbandry in Russia — Exemption of duties on sheep imported for breeding. — pp. 6-17. 

SECTION II. 

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES— COMPARISON OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN 

MANUFACTURES. 

Antiquity of fabrication in Europe — Characters of woolly fibre — Consumption of the world — 
Characteristic fabrics of eastern nations — England — Belgium — Prussia — Austria — Russia — 
Relative rank of nations in production of woollen fabrics — Awards to leading centres of 
European production— Characteristics of American fabrics — Marked excellence in card- 
wool fabrics — Fancy cassimeres, shawls, flannels, cloakings — American carpets — Evidences 
of progress within five years — Awards of medals to American manufacturers — Award of 
grand prize to Pacific mills — Statements of the management of those mills — Principles 
upon which New England mills were founded — Mr. Nathan Appleton's statement — Rela- 
tive cost of production in the United States and Europe — Equality in skill, machines, 
and efficiency of labor — Disadvantages of cost of capital and labor — Necessity of pro- 
tective duties to neutralize European advantages — Relations of American sheep husbandry 
to American manufactures, — pp. 17-32. 

THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY OF EUROPE. 

French woollen fabrics at the Exposition — Distribution of groups of manufacturing establish- 
ments in France — General features of French industry — Contributions of French inven- 
tions and fabrics to the woollen industry — Culture of taste in France — Schools of design 
at Lyons — Progress of the art of dyeing in France — Colbert's regulations — Discovery of 
steam colors — Discovery of artificial ultra-marine — Improvements in madder dyes — French 
purple — Discovery of murexide — The aniline colors. — pp. 32-44. 

CHARACTERISTIC CENTRES IN FRANCE. 

Elbeuf. — The great centre of the fancy cassimere manufacture — Designers — Echantilleurs — 
Facilities for credit — Separate establishments devoted to single processes of manufacture — 
Wages and condition of industrial population. — pp. 45-49. 

Sedan. — The centre of fine cloth manufacture — Invention of fancy cassimeres — Suppression 
of drunkenness — Wages and condition of industrial population. — pp. 49, 50. 

Region du Midi. — Centre of manufacture of fabrics for common consumption — Production of 
peculiar fabrics for the Levant — For the army — Workshop nui'series— Singular features of 
military establishment of Villeneuvette — Wages and condition of workmen. — pp. 50-53. 

Rheims. — A centre of combing wool industry — Fabrication of merinos — Improvements in 
combing wool — Power-loom weaving applied to merinoes — Dependence upon the United 



IV ' CONTENTS. 

States — Advantao-es of nudertaking the merino manufacture in the United States — Wages 

and condition of workmen. — pp. 515-55. 
Oateau. — Immense establishment — Perfection of machinery and processes — Wages and 

condition of workmcm. — pp. 55-57. 
RuUBAix. — The rival of Bradford — History of its growth — Public sentiment opposed to the 

Anglo-French treaty — Faithfulness of fabrication — The profitableness of manufacturing 

light fabrics for female consumption — Wages and condition of industrial population. — pp. 

.57-00. 

OTHER EUKOPEAN NATIONS. 

Belgium, Germany, and Austria. — Productions, and rates of wages. — pp. 60, 61. 

Great Britain. — Growth of the cities of the WestKiding — Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield, 
Halifax — Statements of value of British woollen manufacture in 1861 — Wages and condi- 
tion of workmen — Decline of arts in England — Cause of decline ; Production to supply the 
markets of the world — Duties of American manufacturers. — pp. 62-GG. 



APPENDICES. 

Page. 

A. American Merinos. — Prepared by request for the report, by Hon. Henry S. 

Randali,, LL.D., president of National Wool Growers' Association (57 

B. The Angora Goat: its Origin, Culture, and Products, by John L. 

Hayes, secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers 81 

C. The Wool best adapted TO VARIOUS Manufactures 107 

D. Combing Wool in the United States. Letter of Mr. Joseph Walworth. lis 

E. Woollen Manufactures in the United States 122 

F. The Woollen and WoRSTKD Trade OF Great Britain J3I 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 



INTKODUCTIOX. 

The preparation of a report upon wool and manufactures of wool liaving 
been committed to the undersigned, it was his original purpose to limit 
himself to giving the general impressions made at the Universal Exposi- 
tion of 1867 upon a business man greatly interested in, rather than techni- 
cally informed as to, the woollen manufacture and the raw material 
supplying it. But in conformity with the views of the Department of 
State, that a report relating to so important a branch of national industry 
miglit take a wider scope with advantage to the public interests, the 
undersigned has consented to modify his original piu-jjose, by adding to 
his personal observations more general \dews as to the present condition 
of the woollen industry at home and abroad, and such statistical state- 
ments, obtained from the most recent and authoritative sources, as would 
throw light upon its economic and social relations. In the preparation 
of this work he has been assisted by Mr. John L. Hayes, secretary of the 
2^ational Association of Wool Manufactm^ers, to whom the literary 
execution of the report has been intrusted. 



SECTION I. 
WOOL AND ITS CULTURE. 

Varieties of wool in European markets— Necessity of protection to Ameri- 
can WOOLS — Clothing wools— Silesian and Prussian clothing wools— Cul- 
ture OF FINE clothing WOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES DESIRABLE — AMERICAN 

CLOTHING WOOLS— Vermont sheep demanded in Australia — Merino combing 
WOOLS— Sheep husbandry in France. — English combing wool— Cheviot 
SHEEP — Problems to be resolved in American sheep husbandry — Vast scale 
of sheep husbandry in Russia — Exemption of duties on sheep imported for 
breeding. 

To commence with the raw material, the first impression made 
upon an American manufacturer by an observation of the woollen 
manufactures of Europe, as displayed at the Exi>osition, is the im- 
measurable advantage wliicli the woollen manufacturer of Europe has 
in the command of an unlimited supply of wot»l, and other raw 
material of every variety, free of duty. The policy of the modern 
governments of Europe, unrestrained by any regard for the opinions 
or prejudices of agriculturists so controlling here, is first and foremost 
to develop the manufactures of their several countries. Freedom from 
duties on raw material and breadstufts is but one mode of protec- 
tion. The necessity for duties on wool as a measure of encouragement 
to the wool-grower has passed away. Sheep husbandry in Eiu^ope could 
not be extended by protective duties, as all the land that could be pro- 
fitably devoted to this purpose is already occupied. England has one 
sheep to one and three-quarters of an acre of land, while Ohio and Ver- 
mont have one to foiu- and a half acres, New York one to six and a half 
acres, Iowa one to twenty-four acres, and the whole United States 
one to fifty-seven acres. The jjerfection to which the leading varie- 
ties of European wools has attained removes them from aU compe- 
tion, and renders protective duties unnecessary. No lustrous combing 
wools can compete with the Lincoln, Leicester, and Cotswold wools of 
England; no clothing wools ^ith the Saxon and Silesian wools of Ger- 
many; no soft combing wools with those of the Eambouillet stock of 
France. The culture of the latter wools was developed by protection 
until their excellence relieved them from comx^etition, and even the 
agriculturists of France assented to the abolition of the duty on wool. 
The great centre of distribution for the gTeat part of the wool of the 
world, not consumed at home, is England, the distribution being favored 
by her warehousing system. All the wool manufacturers of Eiu'ope are 
gathered at the annual sales at London. The European supply of raw 
matei'ial constitutes but an inconsiderable portion of the consimiption of 
Europe. The importations have increased with marvellous rapidity. 

The imj)ortations of wool into England a little over 30 years ago, viz, 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF AVOOL. 7 

in 1830, were, iu roimd uuinbers, from Germany, 74,000 bales ; from Spain 
and Portugal, 10,000 bales; the British colonies, 8,000 bales; sundry 
other places, 5,000 bales ; total, 98,000 bales ; and yet at that period, as 
appears from the testimony before the House of Lords, in 1828, every 
Avarehouse in England was filled with wool, and stocks were lying on hand 
for five or six years. In 1864 there were imported, from Australia, 302,000 
bales ; from the Cape of Good Hope, 68,000 bales ; from South America, 
99,000 bales ; and 219,336 bales from other som^ces — in all, 688,336 bales. 
Australia now supplies more than three times the whole amount of foreign 
w^ool consumed in England a third of a centmy ago, and the production 
of South America exceeds the whole consumption then. The advantages 
which the European manufacturer enjoys over the American in the com- 
niand of an unlimited supply of every variety of wool cannot be over- 
estimated. The range of fabrication of the American manufacturer in 
clothing and combing wools is limited to the produce of American flocks, 
under the almost prohibitory duty upon those wools. The Em^opean can 
select from the peculiar products of every climate and soil of the whole 
world, which are poured into the great centres of distribution at London 
and Liverpool. Hence the infinite variety of European manufactures so 
conspicuous at the Exi)osition, and hence the capacity of the European 
manufacturer to relieve himself from home competition by changing at 
pleasure the character of his fabrics. It is true that the American is able 
to contend with the European manufacturer, who has his wool free of 
duty, by receiving the imposition of a specific duty on foreign cloths just 
sufficient to reimburse the duties on wool. Without this neutralizing 
duty the American could not live for a day, and with it he still suffers in 
the limitation of his supply of raw material. 

By these observations upon the present comparative advantages of the 
American and foreign manufacturer in the supply of raw material, it is 
not to be inferred that the undersignetl would advocate the application 
to this country of the British system of protection by the free admission 
of raw materials which can be advantageously produi^ed here, or that he 
would for a moment maintain that the wool-gTower can obtain sufficient 
encoiu^agement through the protection of the manufacturer. Tlie higher 
demands of American civilization require that all oiu^ industries should 
be defended against the cheap capital and labor of competing nations. 
The labor which jjroduces the wool cannot be distingiiished from that 
which spins and weaves it. Considerations of national independence 
require us to seek to the utmost possible extent all our sui)plies from 
domestic sources. The woollen manufacturer has the best assurance of 
permanent prosperity when he can look to an uninterrupted supply of 
wool from sources not liable to be cut off by w^ar, famine, pestilence, or 
political revolutions abroad. The American wool manufacturer, no less 
than the wool-grower, has the only market for his fabrics at home, and 
can have a profitable market only when aU the industry of the country 
is profitably occupied. The system of political economy essential to 



8 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

industrial pr<)si)erity in this country demands that the claims of the avooI- 
grower and manufacturer should be equally respected. If any views here 
])resented slumld l)e regarded as suggestive of a chtuige of the system of 
duties now prevailing, they should be regarded as addressed to American 
wool-gTowers alone, with the distinct acknowledgment that it is their 
right, after intelligent consultation with the representatives of kindred 
industries, to demand the duties which they shall judge to be necessary 
for the protection of their own. 

CLOTHING WOOLS, 

To return to the wools displayed in the great warehouses of Euroi^e, 
and exhibited at the Exposition. The American manufacturer is struck 
by the variety of wools, not produced abundantly here, and tirst with the 
Silesian and Saxony clothing wools of Germany, the fleeces small and 
the fibre exceedingly fine, and marked by the distinctness and number 
of its cui'ves or wrinkles ; the staple very short, the wools distinguished 
for their felting qualities, both the fineness and shortness of staple being- 
essential qualities for the fine broadcloths and doeskins, for which the 
German manufacturers are so distinguished. These wools have the 
highest price of any grown. The wools of Prussia of this character 
were very remarkable, and among them those exhibited by Mr. Dopping, 
of Silesia, are worthy of especial mention for their shortness and the 
distinctness of the cmwes, which were so sharply defined as to give the 
impression that they had been artificially crimped, Xext to these, and 
scarcely inferior, are some of the Australian wools, which were distin- 
guished for the same qualities of fineness of fibre and shortness of staple, 
and equally observable for theh^ admirable condition, evincing the care 
with which they are washed and put up. These wools were exhibited in 
such quantities as to give one the impression of passing through the 
warehouses of London, Next in quality are the Cape wools. Last among 
the fine clothing wools in quality and price are those of Buenos Ayres. 
The German and Australian wools exhibit the highest existing type of 
the product of the merino race. In their culture weight of fleece is never 
sought for. The efforts of the gTower are devoted solely to produciug 
fineness of fibre and shortness of staple. Without the command of wool 
of this character for filling it is hopeless to attempt the manufactiu-e of 
the best face goods, such as broadcloths and doeskins. Our foreign 
importation of German cloths is mainly confined to the black broadcloths, 
cassimeres, and doeskins made from these wools. There is no difficulty 
in commanding the skill required for this manufacture, as is evinced by 
the goods exhibited by Mr. Slater, of Rhode Island. AU the difficidties of 
mauufactirre can be surmounted by the importation of German workmen. 
Several hundred sets of machinery could be occupied here in the manu- 
facture of these goods, demanded for home consumption. The warps, 
which could be made of such American fleece as is now grown here, 
would take up two-fifths of the wool required for this manufacture. This 



AVOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 9 

woiild be SO much added to tlie demand for tliis character of wool. The 
relief alforded to the inaniifacturer, by being able to vary his fabrics, 
wonld diminish the competition among those compelled to maunfactnre 
only one style of goods, and, giving more profits to the manipidator of 
the wool, would seciu-e better prices to the wool-grower. The great 
problem to be solved in the clothing- avooI industry in this country is how 
these wools shall be secured. The wool-growers assert that they can 
be gro^n in this country, and this is by all means the most desirable 
source from which they coidd be obtained. The success in certain dis- 
tricts in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, in former times, is an 
assm\ance that they can be grown. The present supply is altogether 
insufiicient for any progress in the flue cloth manufactiu-e. It is grati- 
fying to learn that importations are being made of the best Silesiau stock. 
It is the duty of the manufacturer to encourage these efforts by discrimi- 
nating in his prices for the finest wools. The growth of these wools is 
not a question of soil or chmate, but of profit. If these desired wools are 
more remunerating than others, they are certain to be produced. But 
the solution of the problem whether we shall manufacture fine broad- 
cloths in this country depends mainly upon the wool-growers. It is for 
them to decide whether or not these wools shall be grown here -, if not, 
whether they shall be admitted at a moderate duty. If the product of 
the finest woolled sheep is too small to admit of profit in their culture, the 
only objection to their growth here, it is worthy of serious consideration by 
the great body of American wool-growers whether their own interests, by 
the greater consumption of wool, which can be profitably grown by mix- 
ture with foreign fine wools, would not be secured by admitting, at a mode- 
rate duty, the highest priced German and Australian wools, not including 
such as the mestiza, which compete mth the wools grown here. Any 
movement for the development of this important branch of manufacture, 
whether by the growth of the desirable wools, their admission at a lower 
rate of duty, or by a higher specific duty upon extra fine wool cloths, 
nmst emanate from the wool-growers, for it is better that the manufac- 
tiu'e of the highest clothing wools should be abandoned than that the 
harmonious arrangements between the agricultural and manufacturing 
branches of the woollen interest, so essential to its stability, should be 
disturbed. 

AMEBICAN CLOTHING WOOLS. 

It should be clearly understood that the wools above referred to are 
desirable as an addition to, and not as a substitution for, the great bulk 
of the present American fleeces. The annual production of wool in 
the United States was estimated, in 1866, at 95,000,000 pounds; and 
it is estimated that this constitutes about 70 per cent, of the wool manu- 
factured in this country — this wool being the product of 30,000,000 
sheep, consuming 30,000,000 bushels of corn. Our domestic fleece is, 
therefore, the chief source of our supply. This wool is maialy of a 



10 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

medium quality, and is produced fioin grades of the merino I'ace. 
Witli the increasing gTowth of the country tlie demand for tliis wool 
should proportionally increase. Its great value for tlie pmposes for 
which it is generally used is shown in the excellence of our peculiar 
American fabrics, to be hereafter referred to. There is reason to believe 
that the jiekl of scoured wool, of a medium character, fiom sheep of the 
race now recognized as the American merino,^ which has originated in 
Vermont, is greater than has been oljtained from sheep of the merino 
blood in any country except those of France. ^Manufacturers are apt to 
complain of the greasy character of this wool — a complaint too Avell 
founded vrith respect to wool i>roduced from show sheep; suflicient 
development of yolk is, however, essential to the gTcatest yield in wool. 
It is for the interest of the manufactiu-er and of the country that the 
system of culture should be inrrsued by the wool-grower which shall 
produce the greatest amount of clean wool with the greatest economy 
to the wool-grower. The wool-growers, through their associations, 
which are now being extensively formed and conducted with an intelli- 
gence displayed in no other department of agriculture, ^ill determine 
how far this production of yolk can l)e carried with ultimate profit, and 
whether the evU of excessive yolk, if it is one, may not be corrected 
by the infusion of blood of another stock. A very interesting and 
instructive fact in favor of the American merino has been stated, while 
this i^aper was being prei>ared, by Mr. Bowes, the eminent wool dealer 
of Liverpool, viz : '' That Vermont bucks are now being selected to give 
body and quality to the degenerated wools of Xew Zealand." 

MEEINO CO^LBESG WOOLS. 

Conspicuous among the wools displayed at the Exposition were those 
of the merino race, distinguished for the softness and leiigth of fibre. 
Those fiom France and Australia Avere tlie most noticeable. The wools 
of this kind from Australia having been derived from the French stock, 
the length of fi])re, enal)ling these wools to be combed, adai)ts them for 
the beautiful diess goods for female wear, such as thibets and cashmeres 
and merinos, which are the most characteristic fabrics of the present 
century. The wool of this character produced in France surpasses that 
of any other country, and its possession has caused France to take the 
lead in this manufacture, which was not attempted in England until the 
wools from Australia Avere seen to dcA'clop similar <jualiti<*s. 

M. BenoA'ille, in his admirable essay ui)on tln^ combing wools f»f 
France, remarks: 

"There are two facts avc ought to proclaim abroad. The first is. that 
without the introduction of the Spanish race into our fiocks, and Avith- 
out all the skill of our agriculturists, Ave should still A'egetate in dei)end- 
ence upon neighboiing nations, and should be reduced to clothe oursehes 

* See article in the Appendix upon the "American Merino," by Dr. Randall, prepared since 
this report was submitted. 



WOOL AXD MAXUFACTUKES OF WOOL. 11 

with their stuffs. It is to the admirable revohition in the raising of 
ovine animals that we owe the beautiliil industiy of spimiiug- the merino 
eomlnnji' wools. It is to this that Ave owe the splendor of the industries 
of weaA-ing eombing- wool at Paris, at Eheims, at Eoubais, at Amiens, 
and St. Queutin. 

•• The second is, that the aspect, the quality, the character of om- 
nuidern tissues — in a word, all that makes them deserve, for 40 or oO 
years, the name of ncAv inventions — are due priucipaUy to the particular 
nature of the combing wool obtained by the Spanish cross. There are 
few. very few inventions in the contextiu'C of the stuffs, or in their 
mounting upon the looms, which are still the same as in the 18th centiuy. 
It is because it has been favored by the wool of merinos that the 10th 
century has changed the physiognomy of the tissues of preceding ages." 

The French meruK>s are bred to protluee wool for combing purposes, 
as this always obtains the highest price. They are of unusual size, ino- 
ducing tieeces of uncommon weight. Those which have been introduced 
into this country Avere not regarded as protitable ; partly for their want 
of hardiness under our system of husbandry, but mainly because there 
was no demand for their peculiar qualities of fibre. There can be no 
difiiculty in engrafting the French race niton the American merino. We 
have then in our own material, and that which can be readily and 
advantageously produced by the imitrovenunit of our race, the means of 
supplying a manufacture which is tme of the nu)st inqiovtant in France, 
and furnishes a large part of the expintation to this country. 

SHEEP msBAXDKY IX FKAJN'CE. 

As it is a matter of the highest interest, as well to tlie numufacturer 
as the agTicultimst, that sheep husbandry should be made profitable in 
this country, it will be appropriate in this connection to refer to the 
tendency of sheep husbandry in France to secure the double purpose of 
profit from wool and mutton in the culture of the merino race. 

A notice by M. Gayot, nunnber of the Imperial and Central Society 
of Agriculture of France, njion the merino-ovine races exhibited at Bil- 
lancourt during the period of the Exposition, furnishes sonu^ interesting 
information upon this i)oint. After noticing the impulse which was 
given to French agricultme and manufactiuv by the development of the 
imperial fiocks of the Spanish race at Kambouillet, and the tendency 
which prevailed for many years to cultivate the nnuino sheep for wool 
alone, and referring to the first efiects of the importation of foreign 
wools in lowering the price of those produced in France, he observes that, 
at this period, the abandonment of the merino sheep was earnestly urged 
by many French agricultmists who had become jxissessed with an Anglo- 
mania for the production of the long-woolled nmtton sheep. This agi- 
tation, although it ilid not procure the abandonnuMit o\' the meriuo race, 
naturally nunlified it. The question was finally resolved tliat there was 
no incompatibility in the production of a very good (piality of wool and 



12 * PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

a satisfactory quantity of tlesb. The sheep now produced in France, 
with tliis doubk^ destination, produce a wool of medium fineness, very 
much appreciated, and furnish for the butcher a return in flesh satis- 
factory in quantity and quabty. 

"The new merino," says M. Gayot, " is well formed ; it grows rapidly; 
it produces abundantly a wool of medium fineness, but of a quality 
much sought for for the production of medium tissues, the consump- 
tion of which has a constantly ascending j)rogression. It is easy of 
nourishment ; it is more rustic and hardy than the foreign races ; it fat- 
tens well, and at all ages, and furnishes a product in mutton which 
bears comparison with all others without disadvantage, and it is notably 
less adipose than the so-called perfected races of England." 

The consideration last referred to will be appreciated in this country; 
the excessive fatness of the English mutton sheep, although not objec- 
tionable to the English laborer, being distasteful to American consumers. 

" 'No one can deny," says M. Des Farges, in 18G3, "that the growers in 
France, who have made a good selection, and have had in view the 
double end of wool and flesh, have obtained as much precocity and 
weight Avith the medium- wool merinos as with the mutton races, I have 
seen a lamb of seven months, killed by accident, which gave a net pro- 
duct in flesh of "24: kilograms, and in tallow of 4.50 kilograms ; the skin 
was worth about 8 francs. Another lamb of 9 J months gave a product, 
in flesh, of 32^ kilograms, and in tallow of 3.930 kilograms ; its skin Avas 
sold for 10 francs. The same grower sells regularly at his sheep-fold, for 
the butcher, his fat sheep, including the fleece, at 30 francs for animals 
six months old ; for 60 francs at eighteen months, and for 80 francs at 
thirty months. 

The change efiected in the French merino is thus described by M. 
Gayot after giving the peculiar points of the old merino : " The amelio- 
rators of the ncAV race have had to fulfil another piogramme. At first 
they had only to produce a short wool ; this alone implied great modifi- 
cations in the skin. The folds disappeared upon a more ample body, 
Avhich has become lower and more elongated, more filled out, more fleshy 
and less bone. It is a constant physiological residt that, with a given 
race, the less the skeleton is developed, the longer becomes the staple of 
the fleece. Such, then, are the new characters deduced physiologically 
one from the other ; a more cylindrical structure ; a diminution in the 
volume of the bone ; the disappearance of the folds of the skin ; a sup- 
pression of the horns ; a very notable contraction of the head and of the 
deformities which dishonored it ; a descent of the wool upon the parts 
of the body where it had neither quality nor value ; the choice pieces, 
the sides (cotelettes) and legs, become more marked and acquire more 
weight ; the wool of medium quality becomes more abundant, and is at 
the same time soft and long ; the growth of the animal is more rapid ; 
the fattening more easy ; the return of flesh greater, and the quality 
more appreciable." 



WOOL AND MAXUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 13 

It was observed tliat tlie fitness of the new merino race for tlie (culti- 
vated and i)<)i)nloiis districts of France was so marlved tliat tlie exhibit- 
ors at Billanconrt of animals of the small and fine- wool Kegretti race 
displayed them Avith this published precaution : "In poor countries little 
advanced, where the pasturage is thin and the price of flesh will not 
cover the cost of production, the wool ought to be the principal and 
often the only product of sheep. We must then attempt to obtain as 
much wool as possible upon animals of small size and easy to nourish." 
It is for our ag'ricidtiu'ists to determine whether the facts above given 
can be of practical application in this country. 

ENGLISH COMBINa WOOL. 

The possession, by England, of the long-wooUed races of sheep was the 
foundation of her manufoctmnng supremacy, the worsted manufacture 
supplied by this wool far surpassing that of clothing wool, and having 
opened the manufacture of cotton. IVIore than half of the wool of Eng- 
land, whose annual product is about 250,000,000 pounds, is used for 
combing purposes, no wool of the merino race being produced. There is 
no more important question to American agriculture and manufactures, 
and no one more nearly related to the vital question of cheap sustenance, 
than the inquiry whether the long-woolled mutton sheep shaU be pro- 
duced abundantly in this country. The present consumption of this 
wool is about 0,000,000 pounds. The extension of the manufacture, 
which has been mechanically successful here, is limited by the supply of 
material ; were this abundant the combed- wool industry would soon take 
its place by the clothing- wool industry, and double the products of the 
wooUen manufacture. That there are no jihysical obstacles, such as con- 
dition of son and climate, iu this country to prevent the culture of the 
long wools of English blood, is demonstrated by the success in the cul- 
ture of this wool in Upper Canada, from which province we obtain nearly 
all the long combing wool consumed here, our manufacture having been 
stimulated by the reciprocity treaty, Avhich admitted these wools without 
duty. These wools are successfully and profitably grown in the neigh- 
borhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and also iu Kentucky, where a new race of 
long-woolled sheep appears to have been formed. The inducements 
for growing long-woolled sheep, especially in the neighborhood of the 
gTeat cities, are, that profit is derived from three sources — the mut- 
t<)n, lambs, and wool — each coming to market at different seasons. 
The value of combing wools, as compared with the merino clothing 
wools, has greatly increased, and, in all probability, will continue to 
do so. The English combing fleeces were worth, in 1855, only Is. l^d. 
In ISGl, they were worth 2s. •IrZ. They had more than doubled in price 
while the clothing wools had just about held their price; the reason for 
this difference being that, while the demand for long lustre wool for the 
worsted manufacture has greatly increased, its culture has been confined 
to England, Holland, and parts of Germany, while the vast regions of 



14 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Australia, the Gape of Good Hope, and Buenos Ayres, liave been opened 
to fine wool husbandry. American agriculturists differ as to the i)roflt ot 
growing the wool of English blood in the United States. On the one 
hand, the i)resident of the Kew England Society of Agriculture asserts 
that " the mutton sheep of England are unsuited to our climate and soil, 
and are neither adapted to the extensive grazing lands where flocks 
are fed which are counted by the thousand, nor to the small farm which 
cannot furnish any luxuriance of food." On the other hand, the presi- 
dent of the National Wool Growers' Association, with more discrimina- 
tion, asserts that the Cotswolds and Leicesters are well adapted to profit- 
able breeding in the State of 'New York, for mutton and wool combined, 
in situations where the lands are rich, unsubject to drouth and adapted 
to root culture, and where good city mutton markets are easily accessi- 
ble; he says, " they are great favorites with dairy farmers, and with grain 
growing farmers who wish to keep but few sheep." If the present high 
duties on combing wools shall stimulate their i)roduction, they should 
be continued. If they fail of this effect after a reasonable trial, the 
intelligence of the great body of the wool-growers will lead to the reduc- 
tion of duties on these wools to a revenue standard. It is for the interest 
of the grower of the American merino wool, that there should be a sup- 
ply of long wool to develop the worsted manufacture, that thereby a 
demand may arise for combing wools of merino blood, for the fabrication 
of the soft and fine stuff goods i^reviously referred to, the command of 
both kinds of wool being necessary for a prosperous manufacture, in 
some fabrics one supplying the warp and the other the filling.^ 

CHEVIOT SHEEP. 

A race of sheep producing wool adapted for combing and special cloth- 
ing purposes has been altogether neglected in this country. This is the 
Cheviot sheep, so extensively bred in Scotland in place of the old High- 
land breed, and which supplies the chief revenue of the vast estates of 
the noble families of Breadalbane, Argyle, Athol, Sutherland, and 
Buccleuch. 

The introduction of these sheep would lead to the supply of a most 
valuable and much needed material for our juanufacturers. The wool is 
sufflcieutly long to be combed and may be all converted into worsted. 
It is finer than the CotsAvold, and can be advantageously mixed with 
English combing wool. Our worsted manufacturers, familiar with the 
working of this wool in Scotland, consider its acquisition for combing 
purposes, simply, as very desirable. It is, however, particularly desira- 
ble to supply an imj)ortant deficiency of material for certain card wool 
fabrics. It is this wool, or a mixtui'e of it, which gives their peculiar 
character to the Scotch tweeds and the Scotch cassimeres and coarser 
shawls. It is also extensively used at Eochdale for blankets, for which 

1 See letter of Mr. Walworth on "Combing Wools," in Appendix, not accessible when this 
report was submitted. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 15 

puriiose it is specially fitted by being less liable to felt than the merino 
wools. We have invariably failed, in this conntry, in attempts to make 
goods corresponding to the Scotch cassimeres, so much in request.^ The 
basis of these fabrics is the Cheviot wool, to which finer wools are added 
to give variety to the texture; their peculiar style resulting, according to 
the statements of Mr. Bowes, from the mixtiu-e of the coarse and long 
with short and fine fibre. These sheep resemble the Leicesters in general 
appearance, being witliout horns and having white faces and legs, though 
they are much inferior in size. They have an advantage over the Lei- 
cesters in their superior hardiness, as they thrive with conditions of keep 
and exposm-e under which the former would perish. Protected by their 
close fleece, which prevents the penetration of rain and snow, they bear with 
comparative impunity the storms of the Scottish hills and thrive on their 
pastures. Their limbs are of a length to fit them for travelling, and 
enable them to pass over bogs and snows, through which a shorter legged 
animal could not penetrate. In Scotland they have no other food, except 
when it is proposed to fatten them, than the natural grass produced on 
their own hills. The hardiness of the animals of this race, and the facil- 
ity with which, unlike the Leicesters, they are nourished and tended in 
large flocks, would seem to fit them admirably for the rough husbandry 
of Cahfornia, Kew Mexico, and the mountains of North Carolina. In 
the present state of our manufactures it is certain there would be an 
extensive demand for their wool. 

Although it may seem presumptuous in a manufacturer to attempt to 
throw light upon the question of sheep husbandry, the object is more to 
disclose our necessities than to pronounce remedies. It is apparent that 
this most ^'ital of aU agricultural problems is very far from ha\ing been 
resolved in this country. England has resolved the question for her soil 
and climate, and has made the mutton sheep culture the pivot upon 
which her agTicidture revolves, and the means of making her fields more 
productive in wheat than even the prairies of the west. In this country 
new elements enter into the consideration of this question ; among them 
is the means of making our peculiar possession of Indian corn most avail- 
able in the production of wool and mutton, and the relations of sheep 
husbandry to the culture of the beet for sugar, an industry destined to 
have a great extension at the west. Profit to the farmer and a supply 
of raw material to the manufacturer are not alone to be considered. 
With the increasing dearness of animal food the question of cheaper sus - 
tenance is commg to be as vital here as in Europe. The greater devel- 
opment of sheep husbandry, with a A'iew to the supply of mutton as well 
as wool, wOl be the most efiicieut and quickest means of dimin- 
ishing the cost of all animal food, as well as of increasing the supply of 
cereals by restoring our degenerating soil to remunerating cidtivation. 
Happily the interests of sheep husbandry are receiving, in this country, 

1 Since the above was written, fabrics called Cheviots, similar to the Scotch g-ootls, have 
been successfully made here. 



16 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

more earnest and intelligent attention than ever before. There is no 
movement in Ameri(;an agriculture more encouraging than the vitality 
of the recent national, State, and county associations of those engaged 
in this branch of agriculture, and the vigor and talent with which the 
departments of sheep husbandry are conducted in the leading agricultural 
papers. 

Eeciuring to the Exposition, the evidences of the vast scale upon 
which sheep husbandry is carried on in Russia, appearing in the notices 
of its exhibitors at Paris, could not fail to attract attention. Mr. Tilibert 
speaks thus of his flock : " It consists of 70,000 merino sheep. In 1864 
it numbered 50,000 head, which gave 12,800 poods ^ of wool. Mr. 
Michel Bernstein, of Odessa, describes his production as follows : " The 
flock of Falz Feim consists of 400,000 animals. The last shearing pro- 
duced 30,000 poods, washed, and sold for 870,000 roubles, or 2,974,500 
francs." 

Passing over the coarse wools of the Highland breed, the carpet wools 
of Russia and South America, the alpacas of Peru, and the Angora of 
Turkey ,2 all of which, with the exception, perhaps, of the latter, are of 
but nttle interest to the American wool producer, as they do not compete 
with any wools grown in this country, or which are likely to be grown, 
because other wool can be produced vnth greater profit, as it is not usual 
to raise rye on land which will raise an equal amount of wheat, the under- 
signed would observe that the interest displayed by all the continental 
governments of Europe in the introduction of valuable breeds of sheep 
is worthy of imitation by our own government. If the introduction, at 
the government exi)ense, of valuable foreign breeds of sheep, to be confided 
to the Department of Agriculture, might not be deemed expedient, there is 
certainly every reason for favoring the importation of desirable breeds of 
sheep and other animals by annulling the duties on such imx)ortations. 

' V MooJ is Poual to 1G.8L1 kilorrams ; .45311 of a kiloo^ram is equal to one pound avoir- 
' See special paper upon tlie "Angora Goat," in the Appendix. 



SECTION 11. 
WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES. 

COMPAEISOX OF EUROPEAN AXD AMERICAN MANUFAC- 
TURES. 

Comparison of European and American Manufactures— Antiquity of fabri- 
cation IN Europe— Consumption of the world— Relative cost of produc- 
tion IN THE United States and Europe— French woollen fabrics at the 
ExposiToN— Culture of taste in France— Progress of the art of" dyeing 
in France— Characteristic centres in France— Belgium, Germany and Aus- 
tria—Great Britain— Duties of American Manufacturers. 

The American observer, astonislied at the marvellous display of fab- 
rics of wooUeu of such infinite variety and beauty at the Exposition, 
nearly all the ijroducts of Em-opean looms, might have been mortified 
at the meagre dis]ilay from his own country, if he had not reflected that 
the AvooUen manufacture has hardly existed in this country more than 
half a century, and that even duriug its short existence it has been sub- 
ject to a system of legislation which has been constant only in its insta- 
bility. In Europe the woollen manufactiu'e was the first art which revived 
after the dark ages. As early as 1395, the stuffs of Rheims sent to Baja- 
zet II, for the ransom of French captives were regarded as the richest 
and most curious gift which France could offer. Both in France and 
England this industry received every favor which the state could render, 
and in the latter country its prosperity is the result of a persistent 
national care from the time of Edward III, unexampled in the history of 
industry. It could not be expected that the products of our brief expe- 
rience should bear any comparison with the results of the traditions and 
inherited experience of centuries. The comparison of our fabrics as they 
were known to exist here, rather than as they were exhibited — for the 
display of our goods w^as very far from being an adequate representation 
of the real condition of our industry — was far from discouraging, while 
the recent progress in the most advanced nations gave the best assiu'- 
ance that we also might attain success in the bountUess field upon whose 
borders we had entered. 

The emotion most vividly excited by a general survey of the depart- 
ment under consideration was admiration of the wonderful qualities of 
the fibre, w'hich is callable of producing objects and fabrics infinitely 
surpassing in variety of appearance as well as of application those i)ro- 
duced from any other material, thus showing itself to be, of all fibrous 
materials, that of the first necessity to man. This fibre, we observe, is 
made more perfect than any other by the chemical elaborations of an 
animal of high organization, thus surpassing silk which is derived from an 
animal of a lower organic structure. Its specific gravity being the least 
2 w 



18 PAEIS UNIVEESAL EXPOSITION. 

of all fibrous substances, its tissues are the lij^htest, warmest, and most 
healthful. This material, pro^'i(le<l in some varieties with a structure 
which admits the fibres to be interlaced and intermingled by the i)rocess 
of fulling into fabrics distinguished for their warmth and softness, in 
other varieties has a lustre which assimilates its tissues to those of silk, 
and like silk and unlike cotton and flax it receives and permanently 
retains every tincture and every tone and hue Avhich the art of the djer 
can produce. 

" Such," as has been said by a recent wi'iter, " are the qualities of 
fibre which have led every industrious nation to the culture of flocks as 
the first necessity of its jjeople ; which have caused, in every manufac- 
turing imtion, the demand to constantly exceed the supply; which 
have transplanted colonies from the Cape of Good Hope to Australia, 
and have carried the shepherd emigrant to the steppes of Russia and 
the plains of La Plata ; and which have brought the present production 
to such enormous figures as are given by recent German estimates, giv- 
ing to Great Britain an annual production of 200,000,000 pounds of wool; 
to Germany, 200,000,000 ; France, 123,000,000 ; Spain, Italy, and Por- 
tugal, 119,000,000 ; European Eussia, 125,000,000 ; making, in all Eu- 
rope, 827,000,000; in Australia, South America, and South Africa, 
157,000,000; the United States, 95,000,000; the British North American 
Provinces, 12,000,000 ; Asia, at a very general estimate, 470,000,000 ; 
northern Africa, 49,000,000 ; the aggregate production of wool in the 
whole globe amounting, by these estimates, to 1,010,000,000, or a pound 
and a quarter to each inhabitant, reckoned at twelve hundred and 
eighty-five million people." 

The observer contemplating the woollen products at the Exposition 
as a whole would conceive that human ingenuity and imagination had 
been exhausted in the variety of form and application of this material ; 
but upon comparison of the present fabrics with those which can be 
recalled by one of middle age it will be observed that nearly everything 
now seen is the product of modern times and was almost unknown in 
the past, the very variety or fantasy of stufls being an idea of the present 
age, a variety not only due to the infinite combinations which are effected 
by modern looms, but by an alliance of woolly fibre \\ith other materials, 
cotton, silk, flax, and the hair of the goat and vignone and alpaca, and 
by new dyes which modern chemistry has discovered. Seeing this, no 
one could fail to be impressed with the thought that of the great indus- 
tries there is no one ofiering so wide a field for invention and imagina- 
tion, and consequently no one whose pursuit is more identified with 
national progress in intelligence and taste. Looking more closely, but 
still somewhat generally, at the goods exhibited by the different nations, 
there might be observed a certain national character in each, which 
could be felt, but not easily described. It was an individuality like that 
which enables one to recognize the birthplace or race of a stranger by 
something of air or tone so slight that it can be hardly defined. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 19 

The products of tlie eastern nations were more marked ; the car^iets 
and rugs of Turkey showing a product from the broad-tailed sheep of 
Asia, the most ancient of the present races, and the fabric unlike any- 
thing made on our own looms, probably as old as the Crusades. The 
shawls of India, the most wonderfid of all the monuments of textile 
labor, exhibit in the i^alm pattern a design which has probably been 
jireserved for thousands of years, and a fabric called espouline, known 
from specimens still preserved to have existed as early as the year 835. 

Coming to the European nations, and passing over France, for a more 
detailed notice hereafter, we observe in the cloths of the west of Eng- 
land, solid and strong as its oak, rather than soft and lustrous, the quali- 
ties which were given by the sturdy honesty of former times. In 
durability these cloths are unsurpassed by the fabrics of any nation. 
Their production is, however, an exceptional one, the tendency of the 
English being to manufacture for the utmost possible consnmption of 
the masses without regard to wearing qualities. This is shown by the 
skill displayed by them in the adulteration of wool, by the substitution 
of cheai) material such as cotton and shoddy in the tilling, and by mak- 
ing warps wholly of cotton. In cheap or adulterated goods of admi- 
rable finish and appearance the English are unsiu-passed. The intro- 
duction of shoddy as a manufacture was made by them, and they have 
consumed in a single year 05,000,000 pounds of this material, more than 
our whole clip of wool in 1800. In the use of new auxiliary materials in 
the woollen manufacture, such as the hair of the goat and alpaca, and 
even cow's hair, in the combination of wool with cotton warps in all the 
coarser fabrics from her o\ati combing wool, and in the substitution of 
power for hand labor, the English sui*i)ass aU manufactming nations. 

Belgium, although provided with little wool of native production, is 
noticeable for the excellence of its broadcloths, cassimeres, and doeskms, 
as weU as for their cheapness, residting from the exceedingly low cost of 
labor. In its combed wool fabrics it is disting-uished for the facility 
with which it copies and ai)propriates and transforms into cheaper 
tissues the original designs of Eoubaix and Paris. 

Ehenish Prussia, having the command and the first selection of the 
incomparable wools of Germany, has preserved the reputation which it 
acquired in the 13th century and exhibits card- wool products, particu- 
larly the black-faced goods, which in excellence of manufacture, general 
utility, and cheapness, siu'pass those of any other nation. 

Austria, with its leading manufactiu-ing city, Brunn, in the very heart 
of the pastoral province of Moravia, is eminent for the originalitj^ of its 
card- wool fabrics, particularly those for women's wear, their showy and 
unique patterns, and for the vividness of its dyes. I^Tothing can equal 
the imrity of the white cloths which form the imiform of the Austrian 
troops. 

Eussia exhibits a condition of manufactui-e similar but inferior to our 



20 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

own, that of a young country of great enterprise and activity, but wliose 
triunii)lis in the textile arts are still to be won. 

The manufactures of the leading nations in card-wool fabrics may 
with propriety be ranked as follows : 

Rhenish Prussia, tirst for men's wear ; France, first for women's wear ; 
Austria, second for women's wear; France, second for men's wear; 
Belgium, third for men and women's wear ; Prussia, fourth for men and 
women's wear ; England, fifth for men and women's wear ; the United 
States, sixth for men and women's wear ; Russia, seventh for men and 
women's wear. 

In combing wool fabrics for women's wear France is first and Eng- 
land second, the other European nations showing nothing to particularly 
distinguish them from each other. 

The districts in Europe distinguished for their excellence in card- 
w^ool fabrics were marked by the awards of gold medals, no medals of 
this class having been awarded to individuals. Gold medals "svere 
awarded to the Chamber of Commerce of Elbeuf, France, for the to^ms 
of Elbeuf and Louviers; the town of Sedan; the south of Scotland, 
comprising the towns of Dumfries, Galasluels, Hawick, Innerleithen, 
Langolm and Selkirk ; the west of England, comprising Gloucestershire 
and Wiltshire ; the province of the Rhine, Prussia; the province of Silesia, 
Prussia; the Chamber of Commerce of Bruun, Austria; the arrondisse- 
ment of Virviers, Belgium ; the arrondissement of the Riga, Russia. 

The incompleteness of our exhibits very properly excluded this coun- 
try from an award of the highest rank in this department. 

It will be convenient in this connection to make a more minute com- 
parison of our fabrics with those of Em^opean nations, ha%iLng i)articu- 
larly in view our fabrics as they are known to be j)roduced here. 
We cannot be said to occupy a national position in the woollen mauufa€- 
ture except in card or clothing wool fabrics, oiu' success in other depart- 
ments being exceptional. Our work has been in the direction demanded 
by the prime necessities of our people and the pecidiar character induced 
by the nature of our raw material. Our pecidiarly national wool manu- 
facture is comprised in the production of all the varieties of card- wool 
tissues from flannels inclusive to the finest-faced broadcloths, which are 
only exceptionally included. Within this range, comprising plain, fancy, 
domet, and opera flannels, blankets, wooUen shawls, satinets, the infinite 
variety of fancy and silk-mixed cassimeres, sackings, repellants, tricots, 
beavers Esquimaux, escredons, cloakings, oiu" success has been complete 
and our progress within the last five years truly astonishing. In nearly 
all these productions we can xie with any nation in excellence, sound- 
ness, and taste of manufacture, and in some of them in cheapness. These 
goods it must be remembered fiu'nish all the absolutely necessary card 
wool-clothing for our population, and all that the great majority of our 
people are inclined to wear at any time, a very small part of the population 
of the cities w^earing occasionally, only, the fine and high-priced black 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 21 

clotlis. A small part of our population, it is true, prefer to purchase 
cloths of foreij>n make to distinguish themselves from the masses, but 
they are of the same class who in France, under the empire, when cotton 
stockings were prohibited, preferred smuggled cotton stockings to silk, 
because they could be only obtained at double the cost of the latter. 
Fashion all over the world demands the use for common wear of the 
medium mixed and fancy cloths in i^lace of those of high linish. These 
we can produce from the admirable medium wools grown upon our own 
soil, and thus the American clothing-wool manufacturers and wool- 
growers are able to j)erform their part in one of the first duties of a nation, 
that of clothing its OAAai people. In the class of goods referred to there 
is no need whatever of foreign sui)ply, and none woidd be sought abroad 
if there were among us that national sentiment in favor of home produc- 
tion which prevails among the nations of Europe. Il^otwithstandiug the 
freedom of exchange among European nations, the national sentiment 
is found to be the most efticient encouragement of domestic production. 
The lustrous German cloths so freely sold here find no sale in England. 
The London tailors who visited the Exposition reported that there was 
nothing on exhibition which would compare with the cloths of England. 
How different is the practice with the tailors aud retail dealers in this 
country Avho persistently foster the unjiatriotic prejudice in favor of 
foreign goods, because they can obtain larger profits on the foreign 
article than on the domestic, as the cost and quality of the former are less 
generally known than of the latter. 

To specify more minutely the comparative qualities of American goods : 
In the whole range of fancy cassimeres, including the mixed goods of 
silks and wool, in style, taste, perfection of manufactm-e, and strength of 
material, we excel the English, and nearly approach the manufactm^es of 
France. The same may be said of the whole range of flannels, colored 
and plain, and of the Esquimaux and Moscow beavers, which we have 
imitated from the Germans. In the low cost pilots, used as substitutes 
for the beavers, sightly to the buyer but trashy in wear, it must be 
admitted that we can hold no comparison with the English. In all the 
grades of woollen shawls which can be fabricated of American wool we 
successfully vie in fabric and cheapness of price with the Scotch, who 
are confessedly at the head of this branch of manufacture. In the class 
of all-wool goods of light weight, made in all varieties of colors, denom- 
inated sackings and cloakings, and largely sold for women's wear, the 
fabrics are now sold in this country, at prices reduced to a gold standard, 
cheai^er than any similar fabrics are sold in Europe. Goods of this char- 
acter, displayed in the American quarter of the Exposition, and marked 
at their net gold prices, attracted great attention for theii' cheapness, 
and constant applications were made for their purchase. 

In some other branches of the woollen industry, besides that of card 
wool, especially those where we have equal facilities with the Euiopean 
manufacturer in obtaining raw material, oiu- x^roductions bear a favora- 



22 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

ble comparison. Ainericau carpets are fully equal, if not su]ierior, to 
the Enj>lisli carpets of similar grades. In the American Brussels and 
tapestry carjx'ts there is lu) inferiority in desiijins, colors, or textm-e. In 
fact they are woven here and in England by the sajue machinery. The 
American retail purchaser is invariably compelled to pay a higher price 
for a foreign carpet of the same grade; that is, he can j^urchase a 
better American carpet at the price of the foreign article. The Ameri- 
can ingrain carjiet, which is much more largely consnmed, is unques- 
tionably superior to the English. This is evinced by the ftict that the 
yarns used in English carpets are not sufticiently strong to admit of 
their being woven in power looms, as is done in this country. There is 
a prevailing i)reiudice against American dyes in carpets as well as in 
other fabrics. I>ro prtyudice could be nioi-e unfounded. The same chem- 
ical agents and the same processes are used here as abroad. We have 
in our establishments the best dyers that the better juices of labor paid 
here can seduce from Europe. One manufactm^er of opera flannels exhib- 
its patterns of eighty different hues on one card. In the present state 
of the art of tincture in Europe and this country bad dyeing residts not 
from want of skill, but the intentional use of cheap materials, and the 
risk of getting evanescent dyes is much greater in piu'chasing cheap 
imported goods than in buying the products of well-known American 
manufactm-ers, who only use inferior dyes when purchasers insist upon 
cheaper goods. 

The following extracts from the last annual report of the National 
Association of Wool Manufacturers are confirmatory of the views above 
given of our recent progress in the woollen manufacture : 

"During the war, the standard of excellence in oiu- goods was undoubt- 
edly far too low, and discredit was thrown upon our national production. 
Home competition, the inevitable result of protection, is now for excel- 
lence; and the vast improvement exhibited the present year is the sub- 
ject of universal comment and surprise with the leading merchants. The 
leading organ of the dealers in dry goods — the Economist, a w^ell-known 
free-trade advocate — declares as follows : ' It can be truly said of our 
manutacturers this season, they have made wonderful progress over last 
year. Such continued improvements in the manufacturing of woollen 
goods will soon place us beyond the name of rivals, and cause oiu^ pro- 
ducts to be imitated the world over, as our most choice styles and sala- 
ble patterns are the result of American ingenuity, both in coloring and 
in style.' As the admissions of an opponent are legitimate testimony, 
we may fairly quote in this connection the declaration of the same organ, 
that ' a great inqiulse has been given to domestic manufiicturers under 
the iniluence of the high tariff, and the result is seen in the splendid dis- 
play made by our woollen mOls.' 

" Our progress has not been limited to improvements of old fabrics in 
style or economical production. Many new fabrics have been success- 
fully achieved. Among the notable examples of recent introductions 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 23 

may be specified the silk- mixed clotlis, liaving threads of silk incorporated 
with both the warp aud the filling-; adding strength to the textnre, 
and giving agreeable nentral shades to the snrface. It is admitted that 
the American products of these goods, which are largely consumed, fall 
short in no respect of tlieu' German prototj^ijes. The introduction of 
these goods is interesting, as aiding in the development of a kindred 
branch of American manufactures, all the silk used in these goods being- 
spun in this country. The consimiption of silk is by no means incon- 
siderable, that consumed by one manufacturer, for this class of goods, 
exceeding annually |80,000 in value. The silk and wool manufactm-es 
are united in another fabric of great beauty, largely made in Connecti- 
cut — the Irish i)oplins, composed of worsted filling, which is covered 
completely by a warp of silk. This beautiful addition to our products of 
luxury, it is hoped, is the harbinger of a broader extension of the silk 
manufacture, which needs only sufiicient protection to take its place in 
this country with the manufactures of wool and cotton. 

" The great perfection which we have attained mthin the last two 
years in the manufactui^e of the class of cloths styled Esquimaux beav- 
ers, for overcoatings, is worthy of especial commemoration. Five years 
ago all the goods of this class, consumed in this country, w^ere imported. 
The cheapness and excellence of the goods of this class recently fabri- 
cated here have led to the exclusion of the foreign product. The goods 
of this class, manufactiu'ed by the Germania Mills, exhibited at the Paris 
Exposition, received the award of a medal of high class. 

" Marked improvements have been made within the last year or two 
in the production of knit goods. Until quite recently the manufacture 
of shaped stockings, shirts, and di'awers, made abroad wholly on hand 
machines, has not been attempted here. An American machine now 
performs automatically the narrowing and widening of the best class of 
knit goods, which is done elsewhere by hand. A great difficulty in the 
manufacture of knit goods has been the seaming, which, when done by 
hand, involved the distribution of the work to the homes of the skilled 
Avomen hy whom the work was finished at great cost. Within the last 
year a machine has been perfected by American ingenuity for seaming 
automatically. In one establishment a hundred little girls are employed 
on these machines, earning from half a dollar to a dollar a day, and 
accomplishing the seaming more perfectly than it was ever done by 
hand. Thus a completely shaped knit article is produced entirely by 
power, equal in all respects to the goods of the most celebrated English 
makei's ; while they are afforded at materially reduced prices. 

" Of recent novelties in our manufacture, the fabrics which have 
attracted most admiration are the cloakings, so largely introduced during 
the present season. Even experienced manufacturers are astonished by 
the new range which is given to the application of woolly fibre, l)y the 
surprising variety of styles and effects obtained, and that they arc capa- 
ble of being produced by machinery. The models which gave the idea 



24 PAEIS UNIVEESAL EXPOSITION. 

of the fabrics produced liere, originally conceived and executed in Aus- 
tria, under a protective system of over seventy ]h'y centum, first appeared 
at the London Exi)osition in 18G2, and were regarded as marked features 
of the Exposition. To the genius and enter])rise of a young manufac- 
turer of Rhode Island is due the conception of reprodu ting the Austrian 
inventions in this country. He was able to carry his conception into 
practical execution, by personal observation and actual labor in the 
Austrian mills. Not content with imitation, he introduced new styles 
and textures adapted to American wool ; and the goods now produced 
by him, and l\v other manufacturers who have followed his example, 
although iHirely American in design, are in no respect inferior to the 
foreign models ; while they are sold at from two to three dollars less 
than the prices at which the imported goods can be afforded, the Amer- 
ican goods being woven by machinery, while the Austrian goods are 
woven by hand." 

The highly respectable position occupied by the United States in 
the card- wool industry was indicated by the awards at the Exposition. 
It has been observed that no higher award than a silver medal was 
made to any individual or single establishment in this class. Among 
the 102 awards of the silver medal in this class, the 66th in number, 
and the first to an American exhibitor, was one for cloths manufiictured 
by the Washington miUs, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, exhibited as 
illustrative of the average styles and quality of the woollen goods now 
made in the United States. These fabrics, 30 in number, were not made 
for the Exposition, but represented the daily average products of the 
mill. Upon each sample a card was affixed, stating the selling price 
in this country. The jury, in making this honorable award, had in -sdew 
the excellence and variety of these fabrics, their fitness for general con- 
sumption, and the reasonableness of the prices at which these goods 
are afforded in this country. The award was an important testimony 
in behalf of American fabrics, as the production of this mill, although 
undoubtedly equalled in quality as to some fabrics by many others here, 
is the largest in the country, and ranks among the most considerable in 
the world. 

A silver medal, being the 67th in number, was awarded to the Web- 
ster woollen mills, of Massachusetts, S. Slater & Sons, for the admirable 
card- wool fabrics, consisting of black broadcloths, doeskins, castors, &c., 
produced in this establishment, their excellence placing beyond question 
our capacity of production in this department, with a sufficient supply 
of the requisite raw material. A bronze medal was awarded to Mr. H, 
Stursberg, of ^CSTew York, for beavers, fully equalling those of German 
make, produced at the Germania mills, in Holyoke, Massachusetts. A 
bronze medal was also awarded to the Mission woollen mUls, of San 
Francisco, California, for card- wool fabrics. The blankets exhibited from 
California would ha^'e done credit to any of the older States. 

It is greatly to be regretted that no samples were displayed of our 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 25 

productions iu other departments of the woollen indnstry in which we 
have made mnch advance, as in carpets, knit goods, and delaines. 

The department of combed wool mannfactiu-es, which in England and 
France employs the larger part of the capital and labor engaged in the 
woollen indnstry, we may be said to have scarcely entered npon, so vast 
is the field still nnoccnpied. Om^ progress in the cotton manufacture 
has directed our efforts principally to one branch of the worsted indus- 
try, the manufacture of the mixed fabrics with a warp of cotton and a 
filling of wool or worsted, which are classed under the generic name of 
mousselines delaine. In this manufacture we are favored by the char- 
acter of oiu' native wools. In consequence of the domestic manufacture 
of this fabric, the importation of printed delaines has almost wholly 
ceased, oiu^ goods being softer, owing mainly to the qualities of domestic 
wool, and taking color better than the competing imported fabrics. Of 
these goods not less than 60,000,000 yards are made here, which are all 
consumed in this country. This manufacture is peculiarly interesting, as 
one of the American establishments engaged in it was able to present t-o 
the Exposition a most honorable illustration of the manner in which the 
interests of the manufactimng proprietor, and the material, moral, and 
intellectual well-being of the workmen, are harmonized in this country. 

A special jury was constituted at the Paris Exposition to award x)rizes 
to persons, establishments, and localities which, by a special organization 
or special institutions, have developed a spirit of harmony among all 
those co-operating in the same work, and have provided for the material, 
moral, and intellectual well-being of the workmen. In response to a call 
from this jury, the manager of the Pacific mills, situated iu Lawrence, 
Massachusetts, i)resented a statement of the operations and conduct of 
this establishment, and received the distinguished award of a grand 
prize, consisting of a gold medal of the value of 1,000 francs and 9,000 
francs in gold; similar awards ha\dng been made to 13 persons, estab- 
lishments and localities in other parts of the world. The follo^^dng facts 
are condensed from the paper of Mr. Chapin, which will be found in full 
in the appendix: 

This establishment was erected in 1853, at a cost in capital of $2,500,000. 
Its machinery is propelled by a faU of water of 1,500 horse-power. The 
average sale of manufactm^ed goods, consisting of printed delaines and 
calicoes, has exceeded for some years past $7,500,000. It employs about 
3,600 work people; of these there are 1,680 men and 1,510 women; the 
rest consisting of boys and girls from 10 to 18 years old. 

In the origin of the establishment provision was made to secure the 
material, moral, and inteUectual welfare of the workmen, both as a duty 
to them and as a measure of self-interest to the proprietors. The material 
interests of the workmen are provided for by the construction of cheerfid, 
comfortable, and well- ventilated workrooms; also, in the construction of 
dwellings for families of work-people, which are fiu-nished at a rent equal 
to one-eighth of the wages of the head of a family; and, secondly, by the 



26 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

erection of large buildings, used as boarding-liouses, for tlie use of single 
females, whose residences are at a distance. These houses are provided 
vntli rooms acconunodating two persons in each, the female operatives 
paying about one-third of their average wages for lodging, food, lights, 
and washing in these boarding-houses. 

Another instrumentality for the material welfare of the workmen is an 
association ipr mutual relief, of which each person employed by the com- 
pany must be a member. This association provides for any sick person 
who has paid from two to six cents, for at least three months, a weekly 
allowance for a period of at least 26 weeks, of from $1 25 to |3 75. In 
the course of 12 years this association, to which the company contributes 
weekly, has expended for the benefit of sick members a sum exceeding 
$25,000. 

For the moral protection of the large number of females employed by 
the company, the boarding-houses are controlled by persons carefully 
selected to influence this class of persons, and to act in the place of 
guardians. Unmarried men are never allowed to lodge in the boarding- 
houses, and married men only in rare instances, when accompanied by 
their wives. The doors of the houses are locked at 10 o'clock at night. 
It is impossible for an openlj' vile person to remain connected with the 
company. Men of intemperate or general bad habits are excluded, and 
it is an establislnMl principle that all profanity, or any bad example, or 
severe use of authority among the head workmen, must be strictly 
avoided, especially when these overseers have in charge females or 
young persons. 

For the intellectual culture of the workmen there is a library, estab- 
lished by the contribution of one cent per week from each person 
employed, containing at present more than -4,000 volumes. This insti- 
tution is under the control of the workmen. Separate rooms, supplied 
with newspapers and current periodicals, at all times comfortably warmed 
and lighted, and accessible at all hours, are provided for males and females. 
The number of work-peoi)le who cannot make use of this library, from 
being unable to read, does not exceed 50 in 1,000, and these are univer- 
sally of foreign birth. 

The advantages resulting to the employers from this care for the eleva- 
tion and welfare of their operatives, and to workmen themselves, are: 
There have been no sfril-es among the work-people ; they have been encour- 
aged to feel that any grievance will be patiently listened to and frankly 
discussed, and the result has always been favorable to good order; a 
higher class of workmen has been secured, especially among the over- 
seers, who engage the laborers in their different departments, and give 
a character to the mass ; the work-people have been enabled to invest 
their surplus earnings largely in savings banks, such deposits largely 
exceetling $100,000 at the present time; many work-i)eople own houses 
free fi^om debt, more than $50,000 being thus invested ; several workmen 
have become owners of the stock of the company — the stock so held has 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 27 

a present market value exceeding' |60,000; many of tlie workmen have 
become members of the city government in its board of aklermen and 
common council -, linally, the pecuniary success of the company has war- 
ranted a liberal payment of wages. 

The least sum now paid in weekly wages to the youngest employe is 
$1 82, gold, and the number belonging to this class is very small. Boys 
of 10 years do not receive less than $2 85, gold, weekly* The least 
amount paid weekly to men is $6 75, gold; while a very large majority 
receiA'e much more. Females receive from $2 48, gold, weekly, or about 
12^ cents for the least, to |6 72, gold; while a few earn more. This 
excepts young girls, whose wages are the same as the least sum named 
above. Spinners, weavers, and a few others, are paid in accordance 
with the product, some of them earning very large wages. 

No comment is needed to give force or application to these facts, which 
may find their parallels at the Washington, Middlesex, and Salisbirry 
mills, and most of the large establishments of New England. These 
facts can be better appreciated by comparing the social influence of the 
American system of manufacture, as above exhibited, with that of Rou- 
baix, to be hereafter described, where fabrics similar to those of the 
Pacific mills are produced. The woollen manufactiu-ers cannot claim for 
their industry alone the credit of harmonizing the interests of employers 
and workmen. They must divide their honors with the Lowells, Ai^ple- 
ton's, and Jackson's, of the past generation, the early promoters of the 
American cotton manufacture, of which the woollen manufactme in New 
England, in its present form, is an offshoot. The benevolent forethought 
exercised by these excellent men to preserve the moral character of our 
rural population in the change to a new form of industry, whose influ- 
ence elsewhere had proved so deleterious, is referred to by Mr. Nathan 
Appleton in his " History of the introduction of the Power Loom and 
the origin of Lowell." After modestly attributing to Mr. Francis C. 
Lowell, with whom Mr. Ai)pleton had been associated since 1811, " the 
credit of having first introduced the new system in the cotton manufac- 
ture under which it has grown so rapidly ;" and observing that Mr. 
Lowell's " care was especially devoted to arrangements for the moral 
character of the operatives employed," Mr. Appleton continues : " The 
introduction of the cotton manufacture in this country, on a large scale, 
was a new idea. What would be its eftect on the character of our popida- 
tiou was a matter of deep interest. The operatives in the manufactming 
cities of Europe were notoriously of the lowest character for intelligence 
and morals. The cpiestion therefore arose, and was deeply considered 
whether this degradation was the result of the peculiar occupation or of 
other and distinct causes. We could not perceive why this peculiar des- 
cription of labor should vary in its effects upon character from all other 
occupations. There was little demand for female labor, as household 
manufacture was superceded by the improvements in machinery. Here 
was, in New England, a fimd of labor well educated and virtuous. It was 



28 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

not perceived how a profitable employment bas any tendency to deteriorate 
tlie character. The most efficient ^lards were adopted in establishing 
boardinji^-honses, at the cost of the company, under the charge of respecta- 
ble women, with every i)rovision for religious worship. Under these cir- 
cumstances the daughters of respectable farmers were readily induced to 
come into these mills for a temporary i)eriod. The contrast in the char- 
acter of our manufacturing population compared Avith that of Eiu'ope 
has been the admiration of the most intelligent strangers who have visited 
us. The effect has been to more than double the wages of that descrip- 
tion of labor from what they were before the introduction of this manu- 
facture. This has been in some measure, counteracted, for the last few 
years, by the free-trade policy of the government ; a policy which, fully 
carried out, will reduce the value of labor Avith us to an equality with 
that of Em-ope." 

The opprobrious epithet of ^' white slavery" has sometimes been applied 
to the labor in the New England factories. No aspersion could be more 
unwarranted. The founders of the prevalent New England factory sys- 
tem carefully purged it from every element of feudalism. They avoided 
the English plan, which had been at first introduced elsewhere, of em- 
ploying families in the mill, often including children who should have 
been at school, the families being kept in a state of absolute dependence 
upon the mill, and exposed to suffering whenever there was any inter- 
ruption in the business. They abolished the custom of payment by 
orders on a factory store, which tended to involve the workmen in debt 
and dependence, and instituted the practice of weekly payment of wages 
in money. They provided comfortable boarding-houses, which attracted 
work-people of mature age from the distant rural homes, to which they 
could return when the business of the mill was interrupted, a system 
which greatly favored the freedom of movement of the laborer, and 
they abjured all attempts to exercise political or religious control upon 
the workmen. In fact the independence of the laborer secured by these 
measures was one of the most marked features of the new era in the 
manufactuiing business of New England. 

A more important point of comparison between American and foreign 
fabrics is the relative cost of production of such manufactures, as we have 
most successfullyachievedhere,measuredby the only correct standard, the 
relative expenditure of human labor required for such production. The 
solution of this question will determine whether we have such natiu-al or 
acquired advantages as will justify the encouragement of this manufacture 
as a national industry. In pursuing this inquiry we can fix upon no single 
representative article of uniform quality and value; such as a ton of pig- 
iron, the relative cost of which would determine the comparative advan- 
tages of the American or foreigner in the manufacture of iron. The infinite 
variety of cloths forbids the selection of any one as the standard of com- 
parison, even if it were possible to obtain data from the books of foreign 
manufacturers. This question must be solved for the products of the card- 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 29 

wool industry, generally, by comparing the efficiency of our system, pro- 
cesses, and macliinery of tabrication. The many practical manufacturers 
who have recently visited Europe for the exi)ress piu^pose of studying 
its industries conciu" in declaring that, in these respects, we are on an 
equality Avitli the most advanced nations. Laying aside the supi)osed 
advantages which we have in the possession of water-power, upon which 
far too much stress is laid in popular estimates, we ai)i)ly everywhere in 
oiu- fobrication of woollens the factory system and make the utmost use 
of mechanical power, while handicraft processes are still largely used 
abroad, especially in weaving. For the i^reparation of card-wool no 
machinery at the Exposition equalled in efficiency the American burring 
machinery exhibited there, such as is in general use here. In the card- 
ing- of wool no improvements were seen at Virviers, one of the chief cen- 
tres of the card-wool industry in Europe, which we do not have in use. 
About the same number of hands were employed at the cards as here. 
Spinning in large establishments abroad is usually i)erformed by mules, 
while jack spinning is more generally adopted in New England, as better 
suited to the difterent qualities and quantities of yarns demanded by the 
variety of fabrics usually produced in our mills. The mules used here 
are of equal efficiency mth those in the best mills in Europe. With 
respect to weaving, it w^as remarked that looms were being constructed 
at the machine shops at Virviers such as we would not put into our mills 
to-day. It was also remarked that no European looms for weaving fancy 
goods were shown at the Exi)osition w^hich would bear comparison with 
the Crompton loom, and even upon that admirable machine great im- 
provements are known to be in progress. The other processes of manu- 
facture, such as dyeing, are the same as in Europe. When we take into 
consideration the greater energy and intelligence of our better fed and 
better educated workmen, the necessary use of every labor-saving pro- 
cess on account of the higher cost of labor here, and the admitted supe- 
riority in construction of American machinery, it may be safely asserted 
that a yard of cloth is made in this country with less houi"s of human 
labor than one of equal quality and the same degree of finish abroad. 
In other words, a week's labor will produce more yards of cloth in an 
American than in an Eiu'opean mill. But it is said that a yard of cloth 
costs less in Em-ope than in the United States. Even this statement 
requires qualification, for the American laborer can purchase here more 
yards of cloth by the produce of a day's work than the European laborer, 
the ratio of the price of cloth in this country, to-day, not being in pro- 
portion to the ratio of the rate of wages of ordinary labor. It is still 
true that the money cost of producing cloths is greater in this country 
than in Europe. From what has been* said it is apparent that the 
greater money cost of fabricating cloths is not due to any want of 
natural advantages, or any deficiency in skiU and eft'ective labor on the 
part of the American manufacturer. It is not true of this industry, as 
is often asserted by theorists, that it has a sickly and hotbed growth, 



30 



PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 



sustained only by artiticial stimulus, and rendering its produetious as 
unnatural, to use Adam Smith's often quoted comparison, as that of wine 
produced from grapes grown in the greenhousc^s of Scotland. Tlie higher 
cost of production in this industry is due, solely, to national causes 
inherent to the condition of a new country and a progTessive peo])le, to 
the higher rates of the interest on capital required to initiat«^ and sustain 
industrial enterprise, and the higher rates of labor demaiuled by the 
greater social and educational requirements of our industrial poi)ulation. 

The facility with which capital is obtained abroad on account of the low 
rates of interest is an advantage which- has been too much overlooked. 
The language of Burke, uttered 80 years ago, respecting the advantages 
of England over France, may be applied with equal force by all the 
nations of Europe to our own : " Our capital gives us a superiority which 
enables us to set all the efforts of France to rival oiu^ manufactures at 
defiance. The powers of capital are irresistible in trade ; it domineers, 
it rules, it even tj^'annizes ; it entices the strong and controls the weak." 

The following table showing the comparative rates of interest in Eng- 
land, France, and the United States is so instructive that no apology 
will be requked for its reproduction : 



Years. 


England. 


Bank of 
France. 


United 


Market. 


Bank. 


States. 


1846 


Per cent. 
3.79 
5.85 
3.21 
2.31 
2.25 
3.06 
1.91 
3.67 
4.94 
4.67 
5.90 
6.69 
3.15 
2.74 
4.42 


Per cent. 
3.21 
5.21 
3.71 
2.94 
2.52 
3.00 
2.15 
3.69 
5.31 
5.64 
5.90 
6.59 
3.23 
2.74 
4.42 


Per cent. 
4.00 
4.92 
4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
3.21 
3.21 
4.33 
4.42 
5.54 
6.00 
3.67 
3.46 
3.67 


Per cent. 
8.35 


1847 


9.54 


1848 


15.12 


1849 


10.08 


1850 . . 


8.02 


1851 . . 


9.68 


1852 


6.42 


1853 


10.21 


1854 


10.37 


1855 


8.96 


1856 


8.92 


1857 


12.77 


1858 . . 


4.99 


1859 


6.59 


1860 


6.80 










3. 90 4. 02 


4.16 


9.12 






1 





In presenting this table, showing that the average rate of interest paid 
here during the 15 j^ears ending with 1800 was more than double the 
average on the other side, Mr*. Bigelow observes: "Eemarkable as this 
difference may seem, it is such, in kmd, as must always distinguish 
countries comparatively new, and i^artiaUy settled, from those of longer 
standing. Neither the laws nor the condition of the United States can 
be considered favorable to great accumulations of capital. Existing, as 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. dl 

it does here, in amounts comparatively small and ^yidely distributed, the 
price of its use must, in general, range high, so long as we have land in 
so large proportion to the number and wants of the population. The 
assimilation of our condition in this respect to that of England must of 
necessity be gradual and slow, awaiting and following the occupation of 
our yet unpeopled territory, and the full development of our internal 
resources." 

The prices of labor abroad, details of which will be hereafter given, and 
particularly in Germany and Belgium, which are oiu* most formidable 
competitors, will be sho^vn to be not more than half the rates paid here, 
being reduced to the lowest sum which will support existence. Having 
placed oiu-selves upon an equality with other nations in enterjirise and 
skill, oirr jiower of unaided competition has reached its limit, and our 
Avoollen industry could not sustain itself in competition with foreign pro- 
duction unless placed upon an equality in the command of capital, or 
unless the disparity against us were neutralized by legislative provisions. 
It is only to neutralize the foreign advantages of cheap capital and labor 
that i)rotective, or, more properly speaking, defensive, duties are demanded 
by the woollen manufacturers. The duties on wool x)aid by the manufac- 
turer, and theoretically reimbursed by the specific duties on the cloth, 
are demanded by the American wool-growers for the same reason. We 
speak only for our own industry, and with respect to that it is asserted, 
with the utmost confidence, that every spindle and loom employed in it 
would be stopped by the breaking down of the defensive barriers existing 
in tariif legislation. Capital and labor already employed with the utmost 
possible effectiveness, in the present state of the art, would not withstand 
for a moment an unaided conflict with foreign industry T^ielding capital 
and labor acquired at half the cost of our own. The feeble obstacle of 
transportation, so often magnified into an advantage in our favor, would 
be but a feather-weight in oiu' scale of advantages. Abandon the woollen 
industry, and 200,000 workmen are thrown upon the land for emi)loyment; 
the markets for agricultural products for these workmen and their 
families would be cut off'. Sheep husbandry, supported as it is solely by 
the American manufactiu'e, with all its incidental advantages of supply- 
ing cheap food and enriching the soil, woidd be abandoned; its 200,000 
laborers would be driven to other branches of agTicultural labor. The 
coveted boon of cheap tissues would last only through the brief period 
during which our own manufactming industry is being swept away. 
-^PPly this system to all American industry, and we become a mere agri- 
cultural people, vegetating in the hopeless apathy and upon the low plane 
of civilization of Turkey, Ireland, and oiu* own southern States. 

We may appropriately dwell at some length upon a point above adverted 
to, the absolute dependence of American sheep husbamlry upon the 
domestic American manufacture. It has been often said that this country 
can advantageously grow wool for export. The fallacy of this notion is 
well exposed hj Dr. Elder, who has compared our exi^ortations of wool 



32 TARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

with the imi)oitations of toys and playing cards to iHustiate the insig- 
niiicance of wool exports. In the seven years 1858-'G4, inclusive, our 
aggregate exports of domestic wool to all countries amounted to $1,725,799, 
and two-thu'ds of this was to bordering nations on our own continent, 
from whom we imj^orted more wool than we exported. In the same 
period the toys and dolls imported were valued at $2,483,489. In the 
year 1800 om- exportations of wool to all the manufacturing countries of 
the globe were of the value of $20,136, and our importations of playing- 
cards amounted to $19,238. It is clear that we have never had a foreign 
market for our wools, and the higher cost of labor Avhich i)revents exports 
of woollen goods must limit the production of wool to domestic consump- 
tion. The success of our domestic woollen industry thus becomes ideu- 
tifled with our agricultural prosperity. Such considerations would seem 
to place it beyond all question that our national interests require that we 
should repel the cheap fabrics of Europe even at considerable sacrifice, 
that we may api)ropriate for ourselves the labor and profit of their pro- 
duction. Such was the conclusion of the continental nations of Eiu^ope, 
when peace restored the nations to labor, at the close of the great wars of 
Napoleon. England then had the command of all the markets of the con- 
tinent, and was ready to fill them with her cheap fabrics ; each nation of 
the continent refused them, and built up its barriers of defensive duties, 
and with what results to their own wealth, and the industrial progress of 
the world! "Instead of a single workshop Europe has the workshops 
of France, Eussia, Austria, Prussia, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Spain; 
each clothing its own people Avith substantial fabrics; each developing 
its owTi creative genius and peculiar resoiu-ces; each contributing to sub- 
stitute the excellence of competition for the mediocrity of monopoly; 
each adding to the progress of the arts, and the wealth and comfort of 
mankind." 

THE WOOLLEJT INDUSTRY OF EUROPE. 

Not the least of the advantages which the European manufacturer 
possesses is the superior facility which he enjoys of observing the pro- 
cesses and comparing the best products of the most advanced nations. 
It is hoped that the notices of the woollen industry of the leading manu- 
facturing nations which follow may have some effect in stimulating 
our oA^ni manufacturers to study i)ersonally the operations of the most 
instructive establishments abroad, and at the same time convey to the 
general reader a more vivid impression of the important part which the 
wooUeu industry plays in the industrial movement of the world. 

FRANCE. 

England and France are nearly equal in amount of production, but in 
excellence France is at the head of all nations in the manufacture of 
wool. Her products are the most worthy of being our models. Her 
native wools most resemble our oAvn. It seems appropriate, therefore, 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 33 

that we should avail ourselves of the full information conveyed by 
the vast display of her products at the Exposition and the precise 
documents furnished by French publications of authority, and occui^y a 
considerable portion of this report with statements respecting the French 
industry. 

The leading woollen fabrics at the Exposition were arranged in two 
classes — 29 and 30. Class 29 comprised yarns and tissues of combed 
wool, including combing wools, yarns of combed and carded wool, tissues 
of piu-e combed wool, flannels and fancy stuffs of wool carded and sHghtly 
fidled, and tissues of combed wool mixed with other materials. The 
i:)rincipal centres of production of these articles in France are Rheims, 
Roubaix, St. Quentin, Amiens, Mulhouse, Saint Maine, Aux Mines, Rouen, 
Fourmies, Cateau, and, flnaUy, Paris. The following facts are derived 
from the committee of admission of this class : 

In 1835 the wools of France played relatively a more imj^ortant part 
than at present in the supply of her manufactures. At that period the 
wools of Australia were little known, of which, in 1865, 23,000,000 kilo- 
grams were used. On the other hand the importations from Spain, Ger- 
many, Turkey, and Algeria have not lost their importance, having 
amounted, during the year 1SG5, to nearly 50,000,000 kilograms. The 
great increase of suj)ply has come from Australia. These different wools 
are now combed and spun by machines of great perfection. The weaving 
of stuffs of wool or dress goods by power was hardly attempted in 1855,. 
but since 1862 has had a rapid development, which increases every day.. 
The wea^ang by hand has not diminished, but has remained nearly 
stationary, while the great increase of production is due to the use of 
machinery driven by power. The number of workmen employed in power 
wea\ing is much less than those working at home by hand. The number 
of females emi^loyed in combing, spinning, and weaving is estimated at 
about one-half the whole number of operatives in some districts, and one- 
third in others. All the combed wool fabrics made in France have been 
much lowered in price since 1855. The exportations of manufactures of 
wool of all kinds have increased from 165,000,000 francs ($33,000,000) in 
1855, to 396,000,000 francs ($79,200,000) in 1865. The yarns and stirffs 
of combed wool are valued at 279,000,000 fi-ancs, ($55,800,000.) The 
improvements observed are: new methods of combing and spinning; 
ingenious means of printing, facilitating the labor of the workman and 
the effectiveness of the machine; and the application of the i^roducts of 
aniline as a dyeing material. 

The French products of class 30, comprising yarns and tissues of 
carded wool, form four principal series : 1. Soft, black, and uniformly 
colored cloths, cloths for billiard tables and "carriages, black-faced goods, 
called satins, and beaver cloths ; 2. Fashioned or fancy cloths for pale- 
tots and women's garments ; 3, Novelties for pantaloons ; 4. Articles for 
waistcoats and complete garments. These jiroducts are mauirfa<3tm'ed 
by establishments situated in five principal groujjs : 
3w 



34 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

1. The group of Normandy, the centre of which is the to^^'Tl of Elbeuf. 
This city and Louviers, and the tovnis of Vire, Lisieux, and Eomorantin, 
produce specially fabrics for general consimiptiou, such as fancy and 
pilot cloths, novelties for pantaloons, and articles of wool velvet, and 
cloths for women's garments. 

2. The group of Ardenne, the centre of which is Sedan ; here fine 
black broadcloths and cassimeres are largely manufactui-ed, as well as 
cloths for paletots and wool velvets. 

3. The group of St. Isere, the centre of which is Vienne, which pro- 
duce generally articles of low price for pantaloons, paletots, &c. 

4. The group of High Rhine and Moselle, the centre of which is Bich- 
waller, which j^roduces the fine-faced black cloths, called satins. The 
heavy stuffs for country use are made chiefly at Nancy. 

5. The gToup of the Midi, comprising the towus of Carcassone, Maza- 
met. Saint Pons, and Bidarieux, which produce all the tissues of low 
jjrice mentioned above. 

The greater part of the wool employed in the card- wool industry comes 
from abroad ; the ordinary French w^ools, from unimproved races, being 
used for the common cloths. Hand labor is almost everywhere replaced 
by power. Hand- weaving is employed only for the fabrication of arti- 
cles, the designs of which, being subject to the caprices of fashion, are 
required to be in great variety, such as stuffs for pantaloons, waistcoats, 
and garments for ladies' wear. It is observed that power-labor, by 
reducing the price of the manufactured article, causes greater consump- 
tion, and employs more workmen. It is estimated that the manipulation 
of card-wool stuffs, and the general expenses, taking the winter and 
summer goods together, add one-thiixl to the cost of the raw material. 
The number of workmen employed by patrons in manufacturing estab- 
lishments, or mills, properly called, is estimated at nearly two-thirds of 
the total number ; the rest work by hand at their OAvn homes, but in both 
cases they generally work by the piece. The women emjDloyed in the 
card-wool industry comprise about two-fifths of aU the laborers. The 
goods are generally sold directly to the great commercial houses of Paris 
and the departments, and these send commercial travellers through 
France and abroad to place their goods. The exportation of card- wool 
fabrics in 1865 was about 5,500,000 kilograms, of an approximate value 
of 71,000,000 francs. The annual production of these fabrics is reckoned 
at about 250,000,000 francs. 

GENERAL FEATURES OP FRENCH UNDUSTRY. 

Before proceeding to a description of the several centres of manufac- 
ture it wiU be proi)er to refer to the general features of the French wool- 
len industry. Some passages from "The Fleece and the Loom,"^ pub- 
lished in 1860, may be appropriately quoted in this connection : 

"In studying the characteristics of the French manufactiu'ers, and the 

1 Address before the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, by John L. Hayes. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 35 

part they have taken in advancing the general progress of the woollen 
industry, and in adding to the means of consumption, we observe that 
they have not attained that economy of production which so eminently 
distingiiishes the British manufacturers. Sui^plied with abundant labor, 
supported by cheap sustenance, the French manufacturers have been 
content to remain far behind the British and Americans in the substitu- 
tion of machinery for human labor. But the tendency of machinery, as 
they think, is to give mediocrity to manufactured products; and the 
French aim at the utmost excellence in their works. The individual 
skill or handicraft of the workman is developed to the utmost extent. 
All machinery is rejected which will not surpass the manipidations of 
the hand. Spinning, the foundation of good textures, is carried by them 
to the utmost perfection. Yarns, spun from combed or carded wool by 
the rival nations, exhibited at the great Loudon Exposition, were car- 
ried 10, 20, and even 30 numbers higher by Freuch spinners with the 
same wool. They excel equally in ameliorating raw materials, in making 
them softer and more flexible. The French, in the textile arts, are crea- 
tors; while the English are e,vploiteurs. The one nation invents new 
fabrics, new combinations of old materials, new styles and patterns, or 
what, in a word, are called French novelties. The other works up these 
ideas, copies, transforms, dilutes, and, above all, cheapens. Most other 
nations follow the English example, and our owti is as yet no exception. 
To specify the contributions of inventive or creative genius of France to 
the woollen industry, we must class, first among the machines, the 
Jacquard, already referred to, whose Avonderfid products are seen in all 
figiu^ed textures ; and next, the machinery for combing wool and also 
cotton, of Heilman, of Mulhouse, an invention which possesses interest, 
not only on account of its vast importance, but the circumstances of its 
origin. The most novel and valuable part of this machine, as stated by 
the inventor, which he had long unsuccessfully endeavored to obtain, 
was ultimately accomplished by carrying into mechanical operation a 
suggestion Avhich occurred to him while watching his daughters combing 
their hair. He was at that time meditating on the hard fate of invent- 
ors generallj", and the misfortunes which befell their families. This cir- 
cumstance, says Mr. Woodcroft, being communicated to Mr. Elmore, of the 
Eoyal Academy, was embodied by him in a pictiu'e which was exhibited, 
and greatly admired, at the Eoyal Academy in 1862. We all practice or 
use French creations without suspecting their origin. Before 1834 the 
colors of all fidled cloths were uniform. At that time Mr. Bonjean, of 
Sedan, conceived the idea, to give beauty to the productions of his 
looms, of uniting in the same stuff different tints and figures. His 
thought was that the domain of j)roduction would be as illimitable as 
that of fantasy, which was the name given to his goods. He was the 
originator of the product and name of fancy cassimeres, by far the most 
important branch of our own cloth manufactiu-e. The French, already 
skilled in making light gauzes of silk, first made hareges in 1818 ; a fab- 



36 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

ric with a weft of ^\'ool aud warp of silk. The English imitated the fab- 
ric by substituting cotton for silk in the warp. In 1826 M. Jourdain 
first produced, at the establishment of Troixvilles, that invaluable fabric^ 
motisseline delaine, made of fine avooI, for printing. In 1831 the manu- 
facture and printing of this tissue was fully developed. In 1838 he also 
created cJuilUs, made of a warp of silk organ zin and a weft of fine wool. 
In 1833 first appeared at Paris, simultaneously introduced by three 
French houses, that fabric so appropriate for the consumption of the 
masses, the mousseUne delaine, with cotton warjis. The English adopted 
the manufacture in 1834-'35, and it prevails in every manuftictimng 
nation. This fabric, which is unquestionably a French idea, has been 
an inestimable blessing. Its products are counted by millions of pieces, 
and it enables the most humble female to clothe herself more comfort- 
ably and becomingly, and as cheaply, with wool, as she could 30 years 
ago with cotton. In 1858 plain hareges were introduced, for printing. 
These had before been made of colored threads ; at the same time halso- 
rine, having the effect of alternate ftibrics of cloth and gauze, was created 
in wool in imitation of a flaxen fabric. The foulards, with a warp of 
silk and weft of English combing, were introduced about this time at 
St. Denis. The fabric, however, most api^reciated by female taste, and 
the most unrivalled of modern woollen textures, and the only one not 
degTaded by imitation, is that beautiful material which derives its name 
fi-om the fleece of which it is made, the French merino. This tissue was 
first made at Eheims, in 1801, by a workman named Dauphinot Palloteau. 
The invention, for which a patent was asked, whether successfidly or not 
is not knoA^Ti, consisted solelj^ in the adaptation of a pecidiar tyi^e of 
wool, and not in the fabric. ***** 

" The creative genius of the French is more conspicuous in their arts of 
design aud color, as applied to all textile products. There is an unlim- 
ited application of these arts and a boundless field for novelties in the 
modern use of printed woollen goods. All the manufacturers of France, 
in producing new styles of fabric or figiu-e, noimsh their tastes by Par- 
isian ideas, the inheritance of the ancient splendor of Versailles. Says 
M. Benoville: 'At Paris each consumer is a judge, and becomes a 
guide to the merchant and manufacturer. The Parisians appreciate 
only what is good, and consecrate only what is beautiful. The grisette 
as well as the grande dame, the artisan as well as the dandy, has received, 
and practices without knowing it, the traditions of art.' Although 
important commercial houses are now established for the sale of designs 
elaborated in this school, there is no manufacturer in Europe who scru- 
ples to copy French patterns. We have even so framed our patent laws 
that, while protecting all other foreign works of invention, we might 
appropriate with impunity the works of the Parisian pencil and pallet. 

" Thus, by importation as well as imitation, all over the world, the true 
lovers of the beautiful, as well as ' the sophists, economists, and calcu- 
lators,' whose advent, upon the fall of Maria Antoinette, is so patheti- 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 37 

cally lameuted by Burke, acknowledge France, so gracefully symbol- 
ized by Eugenie, the empress of taste and fashion." 

CULTURE OF TASTE. 

The modes in which taste is cultivated in France deserve study and 
imitation in this coiuitry. They are illustrated by the observations of 
Doctor lire upon the habits of the sUk weavers at Lyons. 

"Among the weavers of the place, the children and everybody con- 
nected vrith devising patterns, much attention is devoted to everything 
in any way connected with the beautiful, either in figure or color. 
Weavers may be seen in their holiday leisiu-e gathering flowers and 
grouping them in the most engaging combiuatious. They are contin- 
ually suggesting new designs to their employers, and are thus the fruit- 
ful source of elegant patterns. 

"There is hardly any considerable house in Lyons in which there is not 
a partner who owes his place in it to his success as an artist. The town 
of Lyons is so conscious of the value of such studies that it contributes 
20,000 francs per annum to the government establishment of the School 
of Arts, which takes charge of every youth who shows an aptitude for 
di'awing, or imitative design of any kind, applicable to manufactures. 
Hence all the eminent painters, sculptors, even botanists and florists of 
Lyons, become eventually associated with the staple trade and devote 
to it their hai^piest conceptions. Li the principal school, that of St. 
Peter's, there are about 180 students, every one of whom receives from 
the town a gratuitous education in art for five years, comprehending 
delineations in anatomy, botany, architecture, and loom pattern drawing. 
A botanical garden is attached to the school. The government allows 
3,100 francs a year to the school of Lyons. The school supphes the 
scholars with everything but the materials, and allows them to reap the 
benefit of their works. Their j)rofessor of painting is a man of distin- 
guished talent well known to connoisseurs. 

"The French manufacturer justly considers that his pattern is the prin- 
cipal element of his success in trade, for the mere handiwork of wea\Tng 
is a simple aftair with the improved Jacquard loom. He therefore 
visits the school and picks out the boy who promises, by taste and 
invention, to suit his purpose the best. He in\ates him to his home, 
boards him, and gives him a smaU salary, to be gradually ad^^anced. 
One gentleman told Doctor Bowriug that he had three such youths in 
his employment, to the youngest of whom he gave 1,000 francs, or £10, 
per annum. After three or foiu' years, if the young artist's success be 
remarkable, he may have his salary raised to double or treble that sum ; 
and when his reputation is once established, he is sure of the offer of a 
partnership. Such is the general history of many of the schoolboys of 
Lyons. Even the French weaver, who earns only 15<7. or 20^?. a day, 
prides himself upon his knowledge of design ; he will tm-n over several 
hundred patterns in his possession and descant on their relative merits. 



38 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

seldom erriug' far in i)i'e(lieting the success of any new style. By this 
disposition the minds of the silk weavers in France become elevated 
and refined, instead of being stidtified in gin shops, as those of the 
English too fi-equently are. In flower patterns the French designs are 
remarkably free from incongruities, being copied from nature with sci- 
entific i^recision. They supply taste to the whole world, in i>roportiou 
to the extent of their exi^ortations, which amount to 110,000,000 out of 
140,000,000. In the Lyons school collections of silk fabrics may be 
studied, extending over a period of 4,000 years, with explanations of 
the modes in Avhich every pattern w as i)roduced, from the rude silk of 
the Egyptian mummies to figured webs of the last year." 

It is worthy of mention that the Chamber of Commerce of Lyons 
solicited and obtained from the French government permission for M. 
Chevrueil, the eminent director of the dye works of the Gobelins, to lec- 
ture to tlie artisans of Lyons upon the "Laws of the simultaneous con- 
trast of colors," which he discovered and has so ably elucidated — ^laws 
which, once demonstrated, become a means of assorting colors so as to 
obtain their best possible eflect, and make the principles of taste which 
govern the arrangement of colors as definite as the harmonies of music. 

DYEING IN FEANCE AND CONTEIBUTIONS OF MODEEN 
SCIENCE TO THE AET. 

There would be but a limited field for the exercise of taste in the tex- 
tile industry without the art of dyeing, which is to tissues what the sum- 
mer's siui is to the landscape, the source of all w hich delights the eye in 
light and color. While admiring the splendors of imi)ression and color 
displayed upon the fabrics of the i)resent day, w^e should not forget how 
largely they are due to the intelligence and science of the French states- 
men and savans of former generations. 

The great Colbert in establishing manufactures in France, made 
improvements in the art of dyeing the object of special care. He pub- 
lished in 1672 a set of regidations "for the dyeing of wools and the 
manufacture of wools of aU colors," and showed that dyeing was an object 
deserving public attention from the additional value which it confers 
upon many of the articles of commerce. "If the manufactories of wool, 
silk, and thread are to be reckoned among those w hich contribute most 
to the support of commerce, dyeing," says Colbert, "which gives them 
that striking variety of color by which they resemble what is most beau- 
tiful in nature, may be considered as the soul of tissues, without which 
the body could scarcely exist. Wool and silk, the natuial color of which 
rather indicates the rudeness of former ages than the genius and 
improvement of the present, would be in no great request if the art of 
dyeing did not furnish attractions which recommend them even to the 
most barbarous nations. All visible objects are distinguished and 
recommended by colors, but for the purposes of commerce it is not only 
necessary that they should be beautiful, but that they should be good, 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 39 

and tliat their duration shoidd equal that of the material which they 
adorn." 

These ideas bore fruit in the magnificent tapestries of the Gobelins 
manufactory, and more usefidly in the famous black cloths of Sedan, 
both of which are due to this great statesman. The art of dyeing was 
also during his time applied to printing cottons. The industry of calico 
l)rinting was founded in Holland during the 17th century by a native of 
France. It was planted by a Frenchman in 1G90 upon the banks of the 
Thames, and established about that time by a French refugee at ifeuf- 
chatel, from whence it was brought back again to the country of its 
nativity by the celebrated Oberkampf. The regulation of the art of 
dyeing continued after the time of Colbert to be an object of govern- 
mental care in France ; and Hellot, Macquer, and Berthollet, all eminent 
chemists, were successively appointed to superintend the practice of 
dyeing and to cultivate the branches of science which had a tendency 
to promote the progress of the art. Each of these chemists left practi- 
cal treatises upon dyeing, of great value. The work of Berthollet, pub- 
lished in 1791, became the standard book of the age, since it contained 
not only a detailed account of the practical operations of the art, but 
theoretical ^'iews of the principles upon which it was founded. These 
works, and that of Chaptal, who while occupjang the office of minister 
of the interior, had become interested in the art, contained nearly all 
that was valuable respecting the art of dyeing in any language at the 
close of the last century. The best informed Englishmen of that period, 
such as Mr. Anderson, author of the ^'History of Commerce," and Mr. 
Howe, author of an essay on bleaching, did not hesitate to admit the 
superiority hi brilliancy of color of the articles of French manufacture of 
this period, and to attribute it to the fostering care of the government. 

The Exposition of Paris has called forth a beautifid study on the dyeing 
and printing of fabrics from M. De Kaeppilin. This treatise, the more 
elaborate work of M. Schutzenberger, published in 18G7, under the aus- 
pices of the Industrial Society of Mulhouse, and the admirable report of 
Dr. Hof&nan, president of the Chemical Society of London, published in 
1863, fm^nish ample information as to the progress of the art in this century. 
A signal step in the advancement of this art was the discovery by the cele- 
brated Vauqueliu, in the early part of the present century, of the metal 
chromium the compounds of which have since had so many industrial appli- 
cations, especially in the printing of mousselines and calicoes, as in the 
chromate of lead first prepared for printing cottons by Lassarque in 1819, 
and the oxide of chromium combined with arsenious acid to form green, 
applied by Courez. In 1810 Loflfet introduced the process of fixing colors 
by means of steam to the printing of cashmere shawls, thus dispensmg with 
the immersion of the fabrics in a bath of tmcture. During the years 1837, 
'38, '39, '40, and '45, the beautiful discovery of Loffet received its most 
remarkable application in the fabrication of mousselines of wool, and 
wool with warps of cotton, by means of colors fixed by steam. It was 



40 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

this application whicLi gave tlie vast exteusioii to the maiiiilactiiie of 
X)riuted woollen tissues, which constitute at present the most important 
l)art of the combed- wool industry of France, and the only branch which 
has been successfully i)iu'sued in this country. The application of steam 
colors to cotton fabrics was greatly advanced by the discovery of stan- 
uate of soda by Mr. Steiner, which enables the colorist to give to the 
steam i)rint a solidity and lustre in which it was wanting before. 

Of the modern discoveries in chemistry there is none more brilliant 
than that of the cheap production of ultra-marine, which was effected 
by Guimet in 1828, the right being seciu'ed to him by patent. This 
material, affording a blue color of surpassing intensity and purity, was 
formerly suppUed by levigating the powder of the mineral la2ns lazuli, 
obtained in small masses from Siberia. Its value in the arts was 125 
francs an ounce, more than its weight in gold. The artificial ultra-marine 
is produced by combining the same chemical substances, the soda, silica, 
sulphur, and alumina which are found in the lapis lazidi, and is equal 
in brilliancy of color to the natm-al ultra-marine. Its cost has been 
reduced from 0,000 fi-ancs to 6 francs the kilogram. The first impressions 
were made with this color, fixed by albumen upon mousselines delaine, 
in 183-4, and in the richest fabrics of France this beautiful color replaces 
the duller tints formed by indigo and prussian blue, the latter dye hav- 
ing been fixed upon woollen tissues as a color of impression in 1836. 

We must not pass over another series of inventions, although they 
have special relations to the printing of cotton fabrics. For the printing 
of cottons madder is by far the most important material on account of 
the permanency of its dyes. The extensive demand for this material 
and the desirableness of obtaining brighter tints has made it an object 
of the highest importance to free the coloring principle of the madder 
root from extraneous matters. The French chemical manufacturers have 
achieved remarkable results in this direction. In 1820 MM. Eobiquet 
and Collin discovered in the madder root the principle alizarine, formerly 
a rose-colored dye, which the English afterwards introduced as a com- 
mercial article under the name of pincoffine. In 1828 purpurine, also 
derived from madder, was indicated by the same chemist as a chemical 
S])ecies distinct from alizarine. It fimiishes a more vivid red than the 
alizarine, and is now prepared commercially. Since the period last men- 
tioned the coloring matter of madder has been concentrated in the form 
known as garancine and flowers of madder. These materials are prepared 
commercially in France in vast quantities, their use proving greatly 
advantageous, both in respect to economy and improvement of color. 
The dyeing powers of puri)uiine and alizarine are remarkable, that of 
purpiu'ine being equal to forty or fifty times the same quantity of madder, 
and that of alizarine to that of thirty-eight times that of madder. These 
new substances have been found valuable in dyeing wool. Wool mordanted 
with alum and cream of tartar gives, with purpurine, a briUiant crimson 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 41 

red, and. mordanted ^Yitll tartar and a solution of tin gives, with purpurine, 
a scarlet almost as fine as tliat from cocliineal. 

The advantages resulting fi'om the recent improvements by which the 
coloring matter of madder is obtained in a purer and more concentrated 
form will be rendered more obvious by a brief statement of the usual 
processes in printing. These may be divided into three principal classes : 
First, where the colors are fixed without a mordant, as in dyeing 
blue with indigo, either of a uniform tint, or where the whites are 
reserved by an application which prevents the contact of the dye upon 
the parts to remain uncolored. Second, where mordants are first printed 
upon the tissues, which are afterwards subjected to subsequent operations 
of tinctures, as by immersion in the dyeing liquid, «&c. This process 
until very recently has been necessary for all madder dyes. Third, where 
the mordants and coloring matters are previously combined together to 
form the color to be impressed, which is called a "color of application." 
In this last class of processes the printed tissues are suspended in a 
vessel filled with steam from boiling water, which produces the same 
effect as dying by immersion in a liquid bath, the colors combining 
directly "\\ith the fibres of the tissues. By means of the steaming process, 
the operator can i^rint and fix at once an indefinite number of colors, 
and terminate by the two or three operations of printing, fixing, and 
washing a work, which formerly required many weeks when accomi^lished 
by the process of dyeing after the printing with mordants ; almost all the 
coloring materials known could be fixed hj the third i^rocess upon tis- 
sues of wool, silk, or cotton. The coloring matter of madder alone has 
not been isolated in sufliciently advantageous conditions of assimilation, 
that the X)rocess of fixing by steam could be applied to it. The discov- 
ery of the different i)imfications of madder has placed it in the power of 
the printer of tissues to apply the expeditious process of steam printing 
to the most permanent and usefid of all vegetable colors. The most 
important use of madder as a color of application has been achieved 
only within a few months. Very beautiful fabrics printed by this process 
at two establishments, one in France and the other in Bohemia, were 
displayed at the Exposition. M. De Kaex)i)ilin, referring to these fab- 
rics, says, "It is evident that the long and difficult operations required 
for fixing the vegetable coloring inaterial on tissues are now quite sim- 
plified, and that the new manner of fixing the coloring material of mad- 
der, all prepared and combined with the different mordants, being allied 
with the beautifid and simple fabrication of colors from aniline, will 
achieve for the industry of printing tissues its most beautiful conquest. 
Instead of the ancient steam colors, which in respect to solidity left much 
to desire, the madder colors, married as it were with the brilliant colors 
derived from coal tar and the solid and resistant mineral colors, like ultra- 
marine and chrome green of Guignet, 's^ill replace the fugitive colors of 
the dye woods. The fabrication will be more perfect, and will reunite 
solidity and brilliancy of colors with the delicacy of execution which can 
be obtained only by machines which print mechanically." 



42 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

It lias long been known that certain species of liclieu exposed simnl- 
taneously to the action of ammonia, moisture, and a moderate tempera- 
ture, gradually acquire a deep purple color, and the property of dyeing 
wool and silk with pure and brilliant tints. Tlie pasty and woody mass 
containing the coloring matter is known as cudbear. The coloring mat- 
ter extracted by means of an alkali and separated from the woody por- 
tions is known as archil or orseille. A new kind of archil was intro- 
duced in 1856 by MM. Guinon, Marnas, and Bonnet, under the name of 
French purple, in the form of lime lake. It furnishes verv' fine and pm-e 
mauve and dahlia tints upon silk and wool without mordants, and mixes 
easily with other coloring matters, such as ultramarine, indigo, carmine, 
cochineal, aniline red, &c., producing the most varied and delicate tints. 
The. manufacture of French pm-ple, although at one time extensively 
prosecuted, has been greatly tliminished in importance by the competition 
of the coal-tar purple. 

In 1854 MM, Hartmann and Cordillet succeeded in fixing upon fab- 
rics the green coloring matter of leaves. In 1851 and 1852 the famous 
Chinese green, called Lo-lmo was introduced. Subsequently M. Charven, 
of Lyons, obtained the coloring j)rinciple of the Lo-Jcao from a weed indig- 
enous to Europe, the RJiamnus catJiarticus, for which he received a 
gold medal. The Chinese green was especially admired on accoimt of 
the beautiful green shades which the fabrics dyed with it assumed in 
artificial light. MM. Guinon, Marnas, and Bonnet discovered the means 
of producing at less cost shades of green which preserve their character 
under artificial light by the use of Prussian blue with picric acid. It is 
a curious fact that, while the greens produced by indigo and picric acid 
appear blue in artificial light, the dyes produced by Prussian blue and 
picric acid aj^pear gTcen. 

A remarkable and very beautiful amaranthine red was first commer- 
cially prepared from lu^ic acid in 1856. This dye, caUed mnrexide, created 
a great sensation, but its use was of short duration, as a more vi^id and 
more easily applied tint was about this time obtained from aniline, and 
the miu'exide was objectionable because the color, though unaflfected by 
the sun, was destroyed by sulphiu^ous fumes, as in the atmosphere of 
London, impregnated with sulphur from coal. This coloring material is 
peculiarly interesting fi-om the circumstance that it is nearly identical 
in composition with the ancient purple derived from the murex. Pro- 
fessor Hoffman records, as he shared, the triumph which was felt in 
Liebig's laboratory when a few grains of this substance were first obtained 
in a state of purity, and the rapidity with which the scientific discovery 
was made practical in the arts. When the manufticture reached its cul- 
minating point, the weekly jield of murexide in one factory only amounted 
to no less than 12 cwt., a quantity in the production of which 12 tons of 
guano were consumed. 

The long-sought-for rediscovery of the Tyrian dye was hardly attained 
before it was replaced by a product of modern science. The year 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 43 

1856 was remarkable in the history of dyeing as the epoch of the most 
complete revolution of the art. It was the iieriod of the practical dis- 
covery of the first aniline colors. The property which anilme, a pro- 
duct from the hydrocarbons of the coal series, possesses of forming 
colored compounds, was indicated by Eunge in 1856. This indication 
was followed bj^ the discovery by a young English chemist, named Per- 
kins, of the means of preparing commercially from aniline a coloring 
substance of great intensity of hue and permanency, which is known in 
the arts as the '■'■ Perkins violet." This was almost immediately followed 
hj the commercial preparation in France, by Verguin, of the aniline red. 
The extraordinary qualities of these products, the wonderfnl facility with 
which they could be api)lied to wool and silk, and the freshness and 
^aviduess of their hues, stimulated the scientific and x)ractical chemists 
in France and England to search for new comi)ounds from the same 
soiu'ce, and to cheapen the production of those known. The most 
important scientific results were obtained by the English chemist Hoff- 
man, who discovered and prepared the colorless rosaniline, a base from 
which all the reds, besides many other colors, may be formed, by differ- 
ent reagents. The colors derived from the hydrocarbons of the coal 
series are as various and as vivid as the hues of the flowers. 

The aniline colors whose use in the arts has been fully established by 
l^ractice, are: 

1. The aniline, or Perkins violet, called also rosaline, indesine, mauve, 
aneleine, hamaline, and violene. 

2. The aniline reds with a rosaline base, called also fuschine, azaleine, 
and magenta. 

3. The blues of rosanaline, Lyons blue, blue de lumiere. 

4. The rosaniline violets, different in hue from the Perkins violet. 

5. Hoffman's violet. 

6. Imperial dahlia. 

7. Aniline green. 

To these may be added an orange color, chrysaniline, and colors pro- 
duced from the oxidation of aniline, but not directly applied ; a green 
called emeraldine, a blue called azurine, and the intense aniline black, 
developed onlj on vegetable fibres. 

The use of these colors gives a marked character to the dyed tissues of 
the present age. The great change effected by them was remarkably 
illustrated at the Exi:>osition by a display of parallel series of wools dyed 
by the ancient, and the new or aniline processes. The aniline hues were 
predominant in the richly colored fabrics of the Exposition, and, adopt- 
ing the figure of Colbert, that " color is the soul of tissues, without which 
the body could scarcely exist," we might say that these colors fix the 
psychological character of the fabrics of the present day. Among the 
wonders of modern science what is stranger than this, that the gigantic 
lilants buried in the coal measures of the ancient world are made to bloom 
with all the tints of the primeval flowers, upon the tissues of modern 
industry ? 



44 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Artistic reasons are not the only ones which have led to the prevailing 
use of the new dyes ; economical reasons have had equal weight, espe- 
cially in the woollen industry. One of the most remarkable characters 
of the coloring materials derived from aniline is the powerful affinity 
Avhich they possess for materials of animal origin, or nitrogenized sub- 
stances, and especially for wool, silk, albumen, gluten, and caseine. The 
affinity for these substances is so great that there is no need of any mor- 
dant. In the application to vegetable tissues, such as cotton, it is only 
necessary to aninialize the tibre with albumen. These colors may not 
only be applied with the greatest facility in dyeing by immersion, but 
add vastly to the economy of i^rinting mousseliues or calicos, as they 
may be used as " colors of application" in steam printing. Besides, all 
these colors are now sold commercially in a state of great purity, and 
very often in crystals. The colorist has rarely anything more to do than 
to dissolve the i^roduct in a suitable vehicle, and to put it in presence of 
the fibre, in the conditions in which it can adhere, which for wool and 
silk are extremely simple. 

The great problem in the art which science has now to resolve is to 
give more stability of color to these magnificent products of modern 
chemistry. The chemist who has fiuniished many of the facts above 
given, M. De Kaeppilin, is hopefid that this will be accomplished. He 
says : " Some of these results have already been obtained ; above all, 
upon tissues of wool and silk. It is evident that colors derived from 
archiUs, such as the violets and reds, are more fugitive than the Perkins 
violet or new violets from rosaniline of Fourier and Chappal ; that the 
roses of safflower or cochineal are not more stable than the roses of aniline, 
and that aniline black is not only superior to all other blacks, but that 
it is wholly unalterable and of complete stability upon tissues of cotton." 

Before closing this imperfect re\dew of the relation of chemical arts to 
the woollen industry, it is due to American science to observe that the 
name of the lamented Dr. Dana, of Lowell, is most honorably mentioned 
by French savans among those who have rendered important service to 
the art of dyeing and i)rinting tissues. The credit is awarded to him of 
the introduction of lime in the operation of bleaching for the purpose of 
saponifying the fatty matter contained in the crude tissues. He thus 
completed the great discovery of BerthoUet of the bleaching qualities of 
chlorine. 

CHAEACTEEISTIC CENTRES IN FEANCE. 

The highly philosophical work entitled "La Laine," being one of a series 
of stutlies upon the regime of manufactui'es, by Louis Eeybaud, member 
of the Institute, accomx)anied by numerous statistical documents, pub- 
lished in 1SG7, together with the treatise on the industry of card- wool, 
by M. Eaudonig, and the more elaborate treatise upon the industry of 
combed wool, by M. Benoville, published in 1851, fiu'uish reliable data 
for special descriptions of the most important centres of the wooUen 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 45 

industiy iu Frauce. The former work is the principal authority for the 
statements which follow. 

ELBEUF. 

In the woollen industry Kormandy stands in the first rank among- 
the present provinces of France. The genius and taste of the ISTor- 
man race are the inheritance of a remote antiquity. The coimtry of 
Caux and the valley of Ange were renowned for their fabrics during the 
period of the Eoman empire, and furnished plaid cloths, woven in squares, 
the original tyi)es of the Scotch tartans, for clothing the Roman armies. 
There are traces of this industry at Elbeuf in the seventh century, and 
of considerable activity in the 13th. The industry was arrested by the 
English invasion of the 14th century, and the inaction was prolonged by 
the wars of the Frond. In the 17th ceutury the manufactiu^e of cloth 
was revived through privileges obtained from the founder of the French 
protective system, Colbert, and became established upon their present 
firm foundation through the industrial war which Napoleon waged against 
England by means of the continental blockade. It is not strange, there- 
fore, to find at Elbeuf one of the most characteristic centres of the woollen 
industry in the world. The whole life of Elbeuf is its card- wool manu- 
facture, which supports a population of 19,000, and, including that which 
is floating-, a population of 30,000, and furnishes a product of 85,000,000 
francs. Elbeuf rauks first of all towns in this manufacture in the fabri- 
cation of novelties or fancy fabrics of clothing- wool. Other towns can 
rival it in the strength of goods and cheapness of price, but in every- 
thing requiring ornament, delicacy of tints, taste, and elegance in card- 
wool fabrics Elbeuf stands above all rivals. It is the point above aU 
others where the American manufacturers and designers can acquire 
that taste which is unattainable without the study of models. The cus- 
tomers of Elbeuf are the principal tailors and great commission-houses 
of Paris, and they are usually the judges who determine whether a nov- 
elty shall be a success. Cases are mentioned where a manufacturer has 
distributed 40,000 fi-ancs' worth of patterns of a single fabric into the 
hands of commercial travellers, thus sowing that he may reap. The 
harvest is sometimes enormous. The cases are not infrequent where a 
li^PPy chance, or a fugitive fancy, has founded a fortune. In the com- 
petition of novelties, none of which last more than a season, but which 
establish modes which extend like the wave of a tide aU over the world 
of fashion, the tide being at its height in a distant province when it has 
ebbed at its som-ce, there is a novelty and activity which impresses 
itself upon the physiognomy of the inhabitants of the town. 

In the manufacture of novelties and fancy stuffs the designers perform 
a very important part; for the success of a season depends upon their 
inspiration. A good designer makes his own terms, and the manufac- 
turers usually secure their services by large rewards. In many cases 
they have an interest in the sale of their designs, and sometimes become 



46 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

partners in houses whose fortunes are made by their taste. The design 
of a fabric is not difficult, and requires no great preparatory study, as it 
is only necessary to combine some hues and colors to produce a certain 
harmony of efiects. It is a work which it would seem any one could do, 
and yet it requires a peculiar gift. There is a precise point which the 
designer must reach, and not overstep; a shade which will be accepted 
when no other would find favor; a contrast which will be agreeable on 
one stuff and displease on another; and a management of mere nothings, 
or Uttle accidents, which appear to have no signification, but which make 
success or failiu'e. The French designer is restrained by the public sen- 
timent of his country, to which he must never do violence, which requires 
elegance without afl'ectation, and, in the midst of perpetual caprices, 
demands what is natural in everything that is original. 

Next to the designers rank the workmen, who act as their interpreters, 
by translating the design upon the loom or the Jacquard cards, and arrange 
the warps and harnesses so that the weaver may j)erform the mechan- 
ical work. These workmen are all highly paid. Another class of work- 
men are the echantilleurs, or men who execute the first specimen pattern, 
by which the probable effect of a design is determined. These men are 
required to be absolutely trustworthy, especially when many specimen 
l^atterns are made to secure orders for goods. Some of the large estab- 
lishments keep their workmen of this class in the utmost seclusion. 
There are some establishments which make the furnishing of specimen 
patterns for the smaller estabUshmeuts their sole business. 

There is one peculiar feature in the woollen industry of Elbeuf which 
has greatly stimulated its extension. It is the facilities for credit which 
are afforded to the manufactiu-er. Cost of capital is the obstacle of all 
others against which the woollen manufacturer has chiefly to contend, on 
account of the dearness of raw material. Usually the wool manufactiu'er 
obtains his raw material only for cash, or on short credit. At Elbeuf there 
are several houses which are at the same time banks and warehouses, and 
which give credit for all operations of trade; but the pecidiarity of these 
houses at Elbeuf is that they seU the raw material not for notes payable 
at a fixed time, but on an accoiuit current. Any manufacturer who wants 
a lot of wool can select it, fix his price, and carry it away. The jjayment 
is almost discretionary with the purchaser. Every facility is given for 
payment, which may be made from time to time, as the manufacturer 
gets his retiu-ns. The account-ciu-rent is the mirror in which the manu- 
facturer has reflected the state of his affairs. This system, under which 
personal character is the gauge of solvency, has given great \itality to 
the business of Elbeuf. Alongside of the hereditary houses of this 
ancient town there are great numbers of children of their works, who, 
rising from workmen to overseers, have finally exchanged their chevi'ons 
for epaulettes. It is this infusion of new blood which preserves the char- 
acteristic vitality and freshness of the woollen industry of Elbeuf. It is 
unnecessary to say how desirable it is that this system should be imitated 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 47 

here. It offers a means of improving the condition of the workmen cer- 
tainly not less practical than the system of co-operation which is now 
being so earnestly recommended to public favor, but which does not 
seem of easy application in the textile industry, 

A characteristic feature in the manufacturing system of Elbeuf is that 
while there are many comi^lete establishments where wool enters in the 
fleece and issues in finished fabrics, the dominant industry of this town 
is the apphcation of distinct processes of manufactirre, single estabUsh- 
meuts being devoted wholly to preparing wool, others to carding, or 
spinning, or dyeing. Each of the processes of washing the wool, dry- 
ing, burring, carding, supplying patterns, weaving, spinning, fulling, 
gigging, pressing, and packing, constitute separate industries. There 
are 20 great dyeing establishments, 12 for spinning, 50 for work- 
ing up waste, many diying estabhshments, &c., and many houses which 
are commercial rather than industrial, uniting these different industries 
to produce fabrics which they put in the market. This system is very 
advantageous to the small fabricant who has but little capital at com- 
mand. He can choose for each kind of operation the special estabhsh- 
meut where it is done best, and at the least expense. The advantages 
are so marked that many wealthy houses avail themselves of it. It is 
weU worthy of consideration whether this system could not be advan- 
tageously introduced in some of the great manufactiu'ing centres in this 
country. It prevails here to a limited extent, as for spinning yarns. It 
has recently been applied to washing and preparing wool. It may be 
found, as has been the experience at Elbeuf, that where both systems, 
that of concentration and dispersion of labor, prevail, it is advanta- 
geous to the general advancement of the manufacturing industry. 

All the regions where the wooUen industry is pursued in France have 
a comparatively improved aspect, showing the increase of wealth which 
manufactures have added to the national resources of the soil. The cot- 
tages with only a single room are less frequent, and here and there may 
be seen the dweUing of a workman indicating a comfort and decency of 
living which is rare among the peasantry of France. Yet the condition 
of the common workmen at Elbeuf, judged by the American standard, 
is far from being easy or enviable. The whole number working within 
and without the town is estimated at 24,000. 

The following statement of their average wages is derived from statis- 
tical documents prepared since 1864 by a former mayor and president 
of the Chamber of Commerce of Elbeirt": 

For children, Umited to 8 hours' work, 75 centimes to 1 franc 10 cen- 
times, (equal to 15 cents to 22 cents;) for those working 12 hours, 1 franc 
25 centimes to 1 franc 50 centimes, (equal to 25 cents to 30 cents;) youths 
from 16 to 18 years old, 1 franc 50 centimes, (equal to 30 cents;) work- 
men by the day, 2 francs to 3 francs, (equal to 40 cents to 60 cents;) men 
working by the task or piece, 3 francs to 4 francs 50 centimes, (equal to 
60 cents to 90 cents) — these are more numerous than the day workmen ; 



48 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

workmen working by the day, 1 franc 10 centimes to 2 francs, (equal to 
22 cents to 40 cents;) women working by the piece, 1 franc 75 centimes 
to 2 francs 50 centimes, (equal to 35 cents to 50 cents.) It is estimated 
by M. Reybaud that in the most ordinary cases the yearly wages for men 
are 750 francs, ($150;) for women, 525 francs, (1105;) for young men and 
girls, 375 francs, ($75;) for children, 225 francs, ($45.) 

The prices of food and lodging are relatively high at Elbeuf. Meat 
costs 1 franc 60 centimes the kilogram, (or 17 cents per pound,) and 
potatoes 5 to 6 francs the bushel. The food of the men, such only as 
serves merely to support life, costs per year 350 fi-ancs, ($70;) house 
rent, 125 francs, ($25;) other necessary exjienses for maintenance, 160 to 
180 francs, ($32 to $36.) On this scale of hxing the workman is able to 
eat meat only on Sunday, the only animal food on weekdays being salt- 
herring or mackerel; and even with this meagre sustenance there is 
hardly any margin for saving or amusement. The invariable conse- 
quence of the reduction of the compensation of labor to the bare neces- 
sities of life, the system which free trade demands to have apx)lied in 
this country, is shown at Elbeirf in the moral degTadation of the work- 
ing classes. The consumption of alcohol at the drinking shops is, for 
the whole poi)ulation of the town, 16 litres (28 pints) per head, or, deduct- 
ing the women and the children, 50 to 60 litres (from 80 to 100 pints) for the 
average consumi^tion of the frequenters of the cabaret. "On the other 
hand," says M. Eeybaud, "the women give themselves ui^to other tastes. 
Theii- toilettes consume their savings, and their scrui^les are not in general 
very vivid as to the means of increasing the same when it is msufticient." 
One proof of the general looseness of morals among the whole peoj^le is 
the custom which j)revails among men and women to resort for the night's 
lodging to vast dormitories, where both sexes are mingled in a common, 
unlighted apartment, without partitions, and wholly free from surveil- 
lance or restraint. Another evidence of the low morality of the work- 
men is the common practice among the hand weavers to sequestrate a 
portion of the yarn delivered to them to be woven. It is estimated that 
some workmen by this means add a quarter to a third to their stiinilated 
pay. It is thus that labor revenges itself for insufficient wages. 

In looking at the woollen industry at this important centre, as a whole, 
we find this industry, viewed merely as an art, in the highest state of 
perfection, and presenting in taste and iirocesses everything worthy of 
imitation; but, while art thrives, and emijloyers are enriched, labor is 
degraded, morality is depressed, and humanity suffers. When we see 
the benevolent men of France candidly publishing such facts as are stated 
above, and acknowledging and deploring the evils of the social system 
inherited from the old feudalism of Europe, shall we not submit to the 
slight sacrifice demanded to reconcile, in this country, what Europe has 
failed to do — progress in the industrial arts, with a just compensation to 
labor? 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 49 

SEDAN. 

The woollen iudiLstry of Sedan, althongli of the same general character 
as that which flouiishes with greater j)rosperity at Elbeiif, deserves 
special notice from the celebrity of its products. The manufacture of 
cloths was pursued by isolated workmen from Flanders, when Colbert 
applied his vast energies to give a national character to the manufac- 
tiu-es of France. He gave to Abbeville, Van Robais, a legacy chronicled 
by Thiers as more valuable to France than the conquests of Louis XVI, 
which struck down the Spanish j)ower, and to Sedan, Nicholas Cadeau, 
a master in his art, who soon converted the modest production of the 
hamlets into an urban manufacture. Establishments for dyeing, card- 
ing, and di"essing were brought within the walls and became protected 
by the cannon of the citadel. That which, above all, promoted the suc- 
cess of the manufactures of this city after their first establishment, was 
the fidelity with which its cloths were fabricated; the marks of its 
fabrics were, like the marks on Swedish iron, or the tower mark on Eng- 
lish silver, infallible seals of excellence. The black and blue cloths pre- 
served their reputation from generation to generation, and many houses 
of Sedan are still faithful to the ancient traditions, as proved by one 
gold medal and eight silver medals, and none of less degree, awarded at 
the Exposition. 

It is singular that an invention originating in Sedan should have 
changed the ancient system which made excellence in material and 
fabilcation the essential qualities of cloths. This invention was that of 
the modern styles of fancy cloths, and was due to one of those hapi^y 
chances which often lead to great results when improved by intelligence. 
M. Bonjean, an educated manufixctiu-er, one day found among his pro- 
ducts a piece of goods which was defective in body on account of the 
dead wool of which it was fabricated. It occiuTcd to him that he could 
give body to the wool by incorijorating some fibres of silk in the warp. 
Ul^on combining the wool with the silk he found that the latter was not 
incorporated in the fabric, but made a distinct design upon the cloth. 
Imin^oving upon the idea here suggested by using the Jacquard loom, he 
finished a fabric and sent it to a leading tailor at Paris. To his aston- 
ishment he had an immediate order for more goods of the same styles ; 
stiU more variety was given to the fabrics, and the stuffs received the 
name of the Bonjean patterns. This was the origin of the fancy cassi- 
meres, and other stuffs, which now comprise three-quarters of the pro- 
duction of card- wool goods, but which, unhappily for Sedan, built ui) the 
city of Elbeuf, the most formidable of its rivals. 

Lea\ing the consideration of the technical for that of the social aspects 
of the industry at Sedan, we are interested in observing the superior 
morality of the workmen of this city, which is partly attributed to a 
smaller population, as compared to other manufacturing cities of France, 
but mainly to most honorable efforts on the part of the manufacturing 

employers. 
4 w 



50 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

The increased use of strong alcoholic drinks in consequence of the 
dearness of the wines, has caused drunkenness to become a prevailing 
evil among the manufacturing population of France. " For the first 
time in the course of my travels," says Mr. Keybaud, "I have found at 
Sedan a jiopulation which was able to defend itself against drunkenness. 
The first honor is due to the chief of the manufactui'ing houses. By a 
concert which should be taken for an example, they have closed the doors 
of their ateliers against workmen with whom this ^ice was notorious, 
who themselves consent to this exclusion. The strife has been a long 
one, and with any other population, perhaps, the reform would not have 
succeeded. At Sedan it has had full success : acting first upon those 
less hardened, it has ended by reclaiming or improving the most obdu- 
rate. Towards those who, with the best intentions, would occasionally 
yield to temi)tation, they have shown indulgence, admitting them to the 
benefit of successive amendments; provided it was recognized that the 
cases were less frequent and less grave, their presence in the mill was 
tolerated. The condition was that they should make a sincere confession, 
or that the wife, the i^arty so deeply interested, should ask favor for the 
husband's delinquency. The results of this reform are exhibited by the 
statement given of the habits of the workmen of Sedan by a former 
member of the assembly : ' The working poi)idation are very regular. 
The life in the family is the rule. The religious sentiment prevails in 
the mass and manifests itself in acts. The workmen do not frequent the 
cabaret on Sunday. They pass the day with their wives and children in 
the little garden which is the object of their ambition. Education is 
spreading every day; a man of 30 years who cannot read and write is a 
rare exception.'" The economy produced by these habits, and cheapness 
of food and lodging, enable the workmen to sustain themselves upon the 
smaU wages ; which are, for spinners working by the piece, from 3 francs 
to 5 francs 50 centimes (60 cents to $1 10) per day of 12 hours. The 
women, spinning by the piece, earn 1 franc 50 centimes (30 cents) i)er 
day. The weavers, working by the piece, can earn 4 francs (80 cents) 
per day. The ordinary workmen receive 20 centimes (4 cents) per hour, 
or 2 francs 40 centimes (48 cents) per day. The women average 1 franc 
20 centimes, (24 cents,) and children 75 centimes (15 cents) per day. The 
absolutely necessary expenses of living of a single workman earning 
750 francs ($150) a year are stated at 601 francs, ($132 20 ;) being for 
food and lodging, 531 francs, ($106 20;) tobacco, 20 francs, ($4;) wash- 
ing and general expenses, clothing, &c., 100 francs, ($20;) leaving the 
pittance of 89 francs ($17 80) for luxuries and savings. It is supposed 
in the above estimate that the workman, as is the usual practice, eats 
animal food once a day. 

REGION DU MIDI. 

The region of the middle of France comprises the third imi)ortant cen- 
tre of the card-wool industry of that country, but contrasting strongly 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 51 

in its cbaracter with that of the districts before described. Its principal 
points are Lodeve, Mazamet, and Bedarienx, while there are many less 
important localities. The common character of the production of this 
group, Mazamet only being excepted, is its adaptation to popular con- 
sumption. The foundation of the manufacture consists in the fabrication 
of strong cloths for workmen and army use, recommending themselves 
rather by their serviceableness than their appearance. A noticeable fea- 
tiu-e of the woollen industry of this group is, that the goods for common 
use are not trashy imitations of showy fabrics, but i)retend to be no more 
than they are, common but serviceable goods. The manufacturers of 
this grouj) supply nearly all the cloths consumed in the French army. 
The government demands only two conditions, a moderate price and 
ftiithfulness in execution. The rigid requirements of the government 
cause the most severe scrutiny on the part of the manufacturer, and have 
cultivated honesty of fabrication among the workmen. The absolute 
reliability with respect to these fabrics has opened a very important trade 
in cloths with the stationary people of the east, this trade having been 
established some generations ago. 

Bedarienx, with a population of 9,000 soids, has 5,000 woollen workmen 
and as many more in the environs. The goods are manufactiu'ed i^rinci- 
pally mth reference to exi)ortation ; through the means of commercial 
houses at Marseilles it sends its products to the markets of the Levant, 
or the French ]3ossessioms in Africa and often to India. In this trade 
certain conditions have to be scrupulously observed to maintain the 
honor of the marks upon the cloths and guard the confidence of the 
eastern customers. For example : for the Levant there are required two 
sorjts of cloths, the stamboul, which is a heavy cloth, and the mahout, 
whicli is a hght cloth. The weight of the stuff must correspond exactly 
to the denomination assigned to it. For the army cloths 40 kilograms 
of wool give regidarly 43 metres of stuff. For the cloths destined for the 
Levant the x)roportions are lowered. The stamboid, which is used for 
cloaks, requires onlj" 44 kilograms of wool for 50 metres of cloth. The 
mahout requires 37 kilograms of wool for GO metres of stuff, the price 
and quality decreasing in the ratio of the quantity of material employed. 
Ill the east the stuffs are both measured and weighed, and the goods are 
not received unless the measiu-e and weight conform. With the fixed 
habits of the east the consumxition of these goods is constant and regu- 
lar. Here is a case where an important trade supplying all the armies 
of France, and an immense and increasing popidation at the east, has 
been estabUshed for generations mainly upon the commercial honor of 
the manufacturer. Our former trade with the east in brown drillings is 
a similar example. 

The manufactiu'ers of this group are not wholly limited to the special- 
ties above mentioned Bedarienx has almost the monopoly of cloth for 
caps, of which it sends forth, principally to Paris, 250,000 pieces a year. 
Mazamet, a town in this group, through the enterprise of a single manu- 



52 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

facturer, M. Houles, has risen iu half a centiuy from an obscure hamlet 
to a town of 12,000 inhabitants, of which there are 5,000 workmen, while 
there are as many more in the environs. Mazamet has entered into com- 
petition with Elbeuf in articles of novelty; its products, which now 
reach a value of 14,000,000 of francs, have made their way into the mar- 
ket of Paris and even of London. 

A pleasing- feature in the industry at Mazamet is the establishment of 
special workrooms for workwomen with nursing infants. Ordinarily the 
workwomen are prevented by their confinement in the mills from nurs- 
ing their 3 oung children, as the women cannot leave the mill without 
losing their places. They ordinarily relieve themselves from this care by 
intrusting their infants to hired nurses. This is both a j)rivation and an 
expense, the latter being equal to half the wages of the woman. At 
Mazamet a special workroom is provided for mothers with nursing chil- 
dren. The women are employed in very simi)le work, such as the sort- 
ing of wool or winding yarn upon bobbins, and can continue their labor 
while exercising their maternal duties. All access to this workshop nur- 
sery is prohibited to other workmen. The wages of the women are 
reduced in proportion to their labor, but all things considered, they gain 
greatly by this arrangement. It is refreshing, amidst the indifference 
to the condition of the laborer so prevalent in Eiu'ope, to see in an indus- 
trial experiment the expression, in this touching form, of a sentiment of 
humanity. 

Within this group there is one establishment quite remarkable for the 
original manner in which it has been sought to combine industrial pros- 
perity with the social amelioration of the workmen. The establishment 
of YOleneuvette bears the title of a royal manufactiu-e, it being one of 
those founded by Colbert. Although under private proprietorship, it is 
exclusively devoted to the fabrication of cloths for the army. It pre- 
serves in many respects the features of a miUtary post. It is siu'mounted 
by battlemented waUs, the drum beats the reveille and tattoo, and the 
drawbridge is raised at night. The whole town is under the proprietor- 
ship of the establishment, and residence is permitted to no stranger who 
refuses to conform to the usages of the place. The mayor and officers 
of the municipaUty are workmen, elected by tlie workmen themselves, 
and there have been but four mayors since the time of the first emj^ire. 
The workmen submit cheerfully to the military discipline which they 
have imposed themselves. The lU'oprietors pay the best wages in the 
district ; they contribute to the schools, at which attendance is com- 
pulsory, and to the common fund for the relief of the sick and aged, 
and provide flour and fuel at cost prices. Games of chance are prohib- 
ited; drunkenness is punished by exclusion. There is but a single 
cabaret, which is closed at 9 o'clock. In the course of 30 years there 
has been but one illegitimate birth. The people of this community have 
invariably kept aloof from political agitations ; and when, in revolution- 
ary times, bands of workmen of the surrounding country have scoured it 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 53 

iu arms, the workmen of Villeneuvette have excluded access by raising 
tlieir drawbridge and manning tlieir ramparts. 

The average wages for labor in this grouiJ are less even than in the 
districts of Elbenf and Sedan. The average day's wages are stated to 
be, for men, 2 francs 25 centimes, (45 cents ;) for women, 1 franc 25 cen- 
times, (25 cents;) and for children, 50 centimes, (10 cents.) This woidd 
give to a family of a man and wife with two chihb-en, all at work, 1,350 
francs ($270) per year. It is estimated that the food i)er head costs, for 
a man, 75 centimes, (15 cents ;) for a woman, 65 centimes, (13 cents;) and 
for a child, 50 centimes, (10 cents.) This for a family, as above, would be 
an expense of about 900 francs, ($180.) To this is to be added lodging, 
100 francs, ($20;) clothing and other necessary expenses, 250 francs, ($50,) 
making a total expense of 1,250 francs, ($250;) and leaving a nominal 
siu^plus of 100 francs, ($20.) These receipts are possible only when all 
the family are at work. Thus, under the most favorable circumstances 
and without accident or sickness, all that a family of four persons can 
hope to secure for saving or luximes is $20 a year. 

RHEIMS. 

We come now to the great centres of the combing- wool industry of 
France, far surpassing in importance that of card wool, already passed in 
review. To the agricultmist and the manufactiu'er, the city of Eheims — the 
most ancient seat of the Roman Catholic faith and of some of its most 
splendid monuments of architecture — is more interesting as the seat of a 
complete revolution in a great branch of textile industry, eil'ected through 
the introduction of an improved race of ovine animals. The fabrics of 
combed wool, for which Eheims was so celebrated in ages past, the says, 
serges, and tanimins have wholly disappeared since the Spanish blood 
has been introduced into the sheepfolds of Champagne. 

In 1801 an obscure workman of this city, named Dauphinot Palloteau, 
first made from the soft and long wool of the Eambouillet sheep the most 
unrivalled of modern woollen textures — the French merino — which, from 
its softness and solidity, must always hold its place independently of the 
caj)rices of fashion. The manufacture was extended through the influ- 
ence of the Baron Ternaux, the most celebrated of all the manufac- 
turers of France of his time, who founded at Eheims one of his many 
manufactories. 

This fabrication of merinos constitutes at present the most important 
part of industry at Eheims, no cotton- warp fabrics being made, as at 
Eoubaix. In 1786 the product of stuffs in this city was 94,615 pieces, of 
a value of 11,000,000 francs, employing 30,000 workmen and 12,000 looms. 

In 1803 the value of fabrics produced was 80,000,000 fraiu'S. The 
number of hand looms employed was 19,000, occupying 38,000 workmen, 
and the number of i)ower looms 1,300, occupying 900 workmen. For 
combing the wool there were 340 machines; for carding, 350 sets of 
machines, employing 5,000 workmen ; and for siDinning, 170,000 spindles, 



64 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

with 2,400 workmen. The inmiber of Avorkiuen in full activity was 
55,000. The 30,000 Avorkmen in 178G produced a vahie of 377 francs per 
head. The 55,000 workmen in 1863 produced a vahie of 1,454 francs 
per head. 

The most important change in the manipulation of this industry has 
been in the combing- of wool. This was formerly effected by handicraft 
workmen, employed at their own homes. No labor in the woollen 
industry was so poorly paid, and the misery of the hand combers was 
proverbial. Their irregidar wages did not exceed 1^ franc (30 cents) 
X)er day. Still the strife between the first imperfect machines and the 
hand combers was long and severe. The latter did not succumb until 
their wages were reduced to 80 centimes (IG cents) per day. Longer 
resistance was vain ; the best workman coidd comb only 350 kilogTams 
of wool per year, and a machine combs 20,000 kilogTams. Of 10,000 
hand combers at Eheims not one remains. For thirty years the genius 
of inventors has been applied to the perfection of combing machmes. 
More than twenty inventions have added imj)rovements in details. At 
Eheims there are at present in use three jirincipal processes, that of 
Lister, of Heilman, and of Hubner ; each of analogous merit, and each 
having its partisans. M. Holden has become the proprietor of all the 
principal processes or patent-rights, in addition to his own, holding 45 
patents ; 17 of his own and 18 by assignment. He thus nearly controls 
the combing of wool in France. He has put in operation three combing 
establishments at Eheims, St. Denis, and at Croix, near Eoubaix. He is 
able to comb 16,000 kilograms a day. He employs 1,300 workmen, 
engines of 1,000-liorse power, and 80 combing machines. There are no 
other establishments in Eiu^ope having these proportions, and so well 
able to resist competition. 

For many years it was deemed impossible to weave merinos advan- 
tageously by power looms. Mechanical weaAing is now accomi^lished 
with a i)erfection which leaves nothing to desire. A hand weaver can 
make 24 throws of the shuttle a day ; the weaver on the power loom 
makes from 50 to 55 throws, and can easily tend two looms, so that his 
product is fom* times as much as the hand weaver's. There is, besides, 
more regidarity in the product and less loss of material. The power 
loom is worked without muscular effort, hardly anything more being 
required than a little dexterity in mending the broken yarns. Women 
can do this work better than men, and in many establishments at Eheims 
women are exclusively employed under overseers. The superior advan- 
tages of the power loom open a sad prospect to the hand weavers of 
Eheims, of whom there are 38,000 ; and the means of averting the suf- 
fering from this class of workmen, in the inevitable change which must 
take place in the procedure of weaving, is a subject of most anxious 
consideration to the benevolent men of Eheims. 

The precarious condition of so large a class of the workmen, and the 
gradual diminution of their wages, create a discontent which is ominous 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 55 

of public calamities. The incendiaries of 1848 inflamed the workmen 
to such an extent, they destroyed the first establishment provided with 
power looms, and they look A\dth an evil eye upon every one who 
introduces the new machines. It is admitted by the authorities of 
Eheims that an envious hatred of the rich prevails always among these 
workmen, and if they are tranquil at present, it is because they are " kept 
down by a strong government." 

The manufacturers of Eheims regard the United States as the most 
important outlet for their goods. Our late war seriously affected their 
trade. They speak of the American crisis as having weighed so hea\Tly 
upon it that the influence of the Anglo-French treaty upon commercial 
transactions was of comparatively little moment. The value of this 
trade is a sufdcient inducement for us to transfer to our own shores the 
industry of fabricating merinos, which is dominant at Eheims. It can 
be adopted here mth aU its recent perfections, and without any of the 
drawbacks which weigh so hea^dly upon it in France. It is fitted for 
the skiUed female labor already developed in oiu' wooUen mills. It will 
be fa^'ored by the character of the wools most advantageously grown 
here, and will greatly increase the production of sheep husbandry by 
creating an entu-ely new demand, and will introduce into more general 
use the softest and most beautiful of all fabrics for female use. 

The effects of the struggle between the old and new system of manu- 
facture is seen in the low average rate of wages in this city. The work- 
men employed upon power machines are comparatively weU paid. The 
men spinning combed wool are paid from^ francs 50 centimes (70 cents) 
to 4 francs (80 cents) per day, and the women from 1 franc 40 centimes 
(28 cents) to 1 franc 70 centimes, (34 cents.) The power-loom weavers 
earn from 2 francs 25 centimes (45 'cents) to 3 francs (GO cents) per day, 
but the hand weavers, who compose the greater part of the working 
population, are reduced to wages which average only, for a man, 1 franc 
50 centimes (30 cents) a day, for a woman 1 franc, (20 cents,) and for two 
childi-en 75 centunes, (15 cents,) a total of 1,200 francs ($240) a year, for a 
family of foiu- persons. The estimated expenses for the absolute neces- 
sities of living are 1,188 francs, ($237 GO,) leaA^ng a surplus above bare 
necessities of only 12 francs, or a little over two dollars. It is hardly 
necessary to say that this siu-plus is scarcely ever attained, and that 
poverty, debt, and moral degradation are the normal conditions of this 
industrial population. 

CATEAU, 

in the region of the north, furnishes an example of what may be done 
in the industry of merinos by adapting on a large scale the most recent 
processes, and making use of a raw material supplied from domestic 
sources. In 1818, M. Paturle selected the locality of the small toAvn of 
Gateau, ha^ing a stream of water, aftbrding a moderate hydi-aidic power 
and a laborious and intelligent population, already skilled in the 



56 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

domestic manipulation of wool, as a site for the development of tlie idea 
of deriving the greatest possible benefit from the soft wool of the Span- 
ish race, then commencing to abound in that region. He conceived that 
the utmost develoi)ment of which the fibre of the new race was susceptible 
was in the fabrication of merinos, recently introduced at Rheims. From 
this idea there sprung up in the hands of MM. Paturle & Lupin, and 
of their successors, the most extensive manufactory of merinos in France, 
and the one which would serve best for a model in this country. The 
original machinery comprised only some instruments for combing and 
spinning, the weaving being operated on the hand-looms of the adjoin- 
ing country. In the course of 30 years the machinery has been enthely 
renewed. The old water-wheels have made way for steam engines of 
250 horse power, moving CO combers, 40,000 spindles, and COO poAver- 
loonis. 2,000 workmen are employed directly in the mill, and the hand- 
weavers of the country furnish 4,000 auxiliaries, making a total of C,000 
workmen. The freight transported to and from the establishment amounts 
to 5,000 tons, and the value of the production is from 18 to 20 million 
francs, three-quarters of which is exi)orted to all quarters of the world. 
The proprietors have earned their splendid prosperity by being faithful 
to the fabric first adopted. They have attained the utmost perfection 
in x)rocesses of manufacture by the emi)loyment of machines whose 
serviceableness had been verified, and have made their goods salable 
by a moderation of price without the sacrifice of quality. The Bradford 
delegates who visited Cateau, at the time of the Exposition, were " struck 
with astonishment at the cleatdiness, order, and regidarity of the vast 
establishment." Admirable schools are provided for children and 
adults attached to the works, and a public laundry and baths. The 
widow of the founder of the works has constructed and endowed a hos- 
pital provided Avith twenty beds for invalid workmen, as a monument 
for her husband. These foundations show that the generous sentiments 
of the proprietors have been among the elements of their prosperity. 
The best workmen earn at this establishment, where their condition is 
probably more favorable than anywhere else in France, from 3 francs 50 
centimes (70 cents) to 4 francs (80 cents) per day, and the women at the 
power-looms from 1 franc CO centimes (32 cents) to 2 francs, (40 cents.) 
It is estimated that with strict economy the head of a family can save 
from CO to 150 francs, but, as has been said with regard to all such 
calculations, " we must distinguish that which is possible from that 
which is." 

There are many other important centres and special localities of this 
industry which might be studied with profit, as that of the fabrication of 
merino shawls, or imitations of the Cashmere, distributed in the agri- 
cultural villages of the north in the arrondissements of Cambrai and 
Avesnes, and conducted under the direction of large houses in Paris ; 
the spinning establishments of Fournies, where a mere hamlet has grown 
into a town of 4,000 inhabitants, employing 30,000 spindles, through the 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 57 

co-operative association of workmen, the most signal example of the 
snccess of co-operative industry in France ; the characteristic manu- 
factm-es of Amiens, which produce annnally more than 20,000,000 francs 
in value of the various fabrics ft'om the hair of the Angora goat ; but 
the space allotted in this paper for the manufactures of France must be 
reserved for the most important centre of the combing wool industry. 

EOUBAIX. 

Of all the manufacturing towns in France there is no one which in 
acti\dty, enterprise, and rapidity of growth, compares with Eoubaix, 
the '' Bradford" of the empire. Situated upon the borders of French 
Flanders, its industry is a direct inheritance from the Flemish artisans, 
who in the middle ages were masters of the woollen industry of the 
world, and who supplied what Fuller calls that "treasury of foreigners" 
who enriched England by the introduction of the Flemish arts. A mere 
rui-al hamlet of two hundred families in 14G9, overshadowed by the pow- 
erfrd town of Lisle, it was authorized by patent from Charles, Duke of 
Biu-g-undy, to fabricate a limited class of woollen stufts. Its powerftil 
neighbor, Lisle, disputed this right, which was finally confirmed by the 
Emperor. Still, for three centuries an industrial war was carried on 
between the rival towns, which contributed greatly to the hardihood 
and enterprise of the victor, which Eoubaix has finally become. The 
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, which united Flanders to France, by 
opening a larger market, gave a broader field to Flemish activity. The 
production of stuffs at Eoubaix, which in 1612 was about 3,000 pieces, 
regularly increased until 1771, when the production was 38,000 pieces, 
occupying 40,500 laborers of both sexes, and representing a value of 
2,987,500 fi-ancs. In 1786 the manufactures of Eoubaix were sufficiently 
imiiortant to induce her to take the lead in resisting the consequences 
of the disastrous treaty of the Marquis de Yergennes, which admitted 
English goods into the French markets at nommal duties. All its in- 
habitants, men, women, and children, signed an act by which they bound 
themselves to wear nothing but the stuffs of France. This movement 
was followed in all the provinces, and the engagement was kept 
until the policy of 1786 was repealed and i)rotection restored. True 
to her traditions, Eoubaix, of all the cities of France, is most earnest in 
denunciation of the relaxation of the protective policy through the recent 
treatj^ with England. Within the present year, as appears by the 
Journal des Economistes, the considtative chambers of arts and manu- 
factui-es of this and the adjoining city of Tourcoing have iirotested to 
the minister of commerce against the renewal of this treaty, declaring 
that the public fortune of Eoubaix has suffered by the treaty to the 
extent of 200,000,000 of francs. The workmen of Eoubaix have petitioned 
the Emperor to the same effect. The manufactiu'ers of Lisle and Amiens 
have followed this movement, which is supported by the Moniteur In- 
dustrial of January 9, 1868, as foUows : " 15,000,000,000 this Anglo- 



58 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Frencli alliaucc lias cost us. Counting' the results of tlie Belgium treaty, 
and of that which we have concluded with the Zollverein, and we have 
a total of 20,()0«),()00. Tlie treaties of commerce, the grand economical 
reform, the ^^'orks ^vhich render illustrious the second half of the 19th 
century, have carried 20,000,000 to the debtor side of our national balance 
sheet." 

The ancient device upon the municipal coat of arms of Eoubaix 
embodies in two words the secret of all prosperity in manufactures as 
well as in common life, Industrie ct Prohite. Among the masters in textile 
industry in former times, a faithful fabrication of their stuffs was a point 
of honor as cherished as bravery in knights and "sdrtue in women. 
The fabricants of Eoubaix resisted the license in the fabrication of 
stuffs which was i^ermitted after the revolution. They insisted that the 
ancient municipal regulations established to prevent frauds in manufac- 
ture should be preserved, and for forty years, thi'ough their chamber of 
commerce and council of Prudhommes, demanded of the government the 
restoration of the ancient restrictive regulations. 

No city has derived a greater advantage from the freedom which it 
so earnestly resisted. For the last half century, the industrial life at 
Eoubaix has been only one series of enterprises and happy experiments. 
Its dominant idea has been to adapt fabrics of luxiuy to popular consump- 
tion by combining the best taste and highest excellence with the lowest 
possible price. With this idea it has continually varied its materials and 
styles, combining wool with cotton, with silk, with mohair and flax, but 
in all the economies of production preserving a grace of decoration and 
sobriety and harmony of colors which takes from cheapness all its vnl- 
garity. The Anglo-French treaty has compelled Eoubaix to enter into 
direct competition with Bradford in the production of the light and fra- 
gile mixtures of wool or goats' hair with cotton warp, such as the bareges, 
the coburgs and mohairs, which have given such an immense develop- 
ment to the English worsted industry ; but it appears, from the recent 
statements of its manufactiu-ers, that its superior taste and invention 
have not enabled it to retain the control of the domestic market in con- 
flict with the more powerfid capital of England. The great establish- 
ments sustain comparison with their English rivals, whose methods, 
dimensions and machines they have adopted. The rapidity with which 
the town has advanced is without parallel in France. From a popula- 
tion of 5,000 souls in 178G, it has gone progressively to 10,000 in 1806, 
15,000 in 1830, 25,000 in 1840, until it reached 55,000 in 1864, while its pro- 
duction of fabrics has risen from 3,000 to over 400,000 pieces, and 
the annual value of its manufactiu'es has been increased from 3,000,000 
or 4,000,000 to about 200,000,000 francs. This rapid growth is rivalled 
in Eiu'ope only at Bradford, which has been built up by a similar 
industry. It is remarkable that this marvellous prosperity is due in no 
respect to any advantages of nature or location. Eoubaix had no water 
power, its natural streams being insufficient to supply the bleacheries ; 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 59 

and even in 1824, its only approacli to Lisle Avas by a road impracticable 
in winter ; the original source of its power was its native population, 
which had inherited the skill, arts, and enterprise of its Flemish ances- 
try. The idtimate source of this prosperity has been the happy idea 
of applying the native skill and taste, aided by the modern jiowers of 
steam and machinery, to furnishing in the cheapest and most attractive 
form the light fabrics for the largest and most important class of con- 
sumers, the women and children, and in satisfying the fickleness of 
female taste by constant variations of textm^es, styles and colors. The 
secret of the profitableness of this manufacture is, that the utmost amount 
of mere machine labor is given to the smallest iiossible amount of raw 
material. Sales and estimates of tariff duties in card- wool fabrics are 
made in a great measure by weight, having reference to the quantity of 
raw material. In combing- wool fabrics they are made by the j^ard. It 
is estimated that a single hoggett fleece from a Lincoln sheep weighing 
20 pounds of a length of staple of 17 inches, such as has been some- 
times exhibited in England, when used in manirfacture to its utmost 
extent, with cotton, to fabricate the finest alpaca fabrics would suflice 
to make 16 pieces, or 672 yards, enough for 56 dresses. The same amount 
of wool made into cloth would not make suits for six men. 

M. BenoAdUe states that a careful calculation made at Eoubaix in 1843 
showed that there were consumed at that place in the manufacture of 
the class of fabrics in question, 4,536,168 kilograms of wool, of the value 
of 17,000,000 francs, averaging 3 fi^ancs 74 centimes the kilogram. There 
were consumed, besides, 1,225,000 francs in value of silk and cotton, 
making the total raw material consmned 18,285,000 francs. The total 
production of fabrics of this district was valued at 63,000,000 francs. 
The goods put in consumption, then, had a value three and a quarter 
times more than that of the raw materials consumed ', that is, 3 francs 74 
centimes for the raw wool, &c., and 9 francs 35 centimes for the manip- 
ulation, cost of capital, and profit. 

But it is unnecessary to specidate upon the reasons of the remarkable 
development during the last half centm-y of the class of manufactures 
under consideration. Eoubaix and Bradford are in themselves enough 
to demonstrate that the combing wool industry, which, comparatively 
speaking, we have hardly touched, is for this country the most encour- 
aging field for labor in the whole range of the textile industry. 

It remains, j)ursuing the course adoi^ted with regard to the other great 
centres, to consider the condition of the industrial population at Eoubaix^ 

The average wages per day actually received, deducting the time actu- 
ally lost, are stated as follows by the statistical authorities : 

Combers of wool : men, 2 francs 60 centimes, (52 cents ;) women, 1 
franc 80 centimes, (36 cents.) Spinners : men, 2 francs 60 centimes, (52 
cents;) women, 1 franc 80 centimes. Weavers: jacquard, 2 fi'ancs 25 
centimes, (45 cents ;) power loom, 2 francs 25 centimes, Dyers : 2 francs 
60 centimes, (52 cents.) 



60 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

It is estimated that tlie strict expenses for a liouseliold of five persons, 
the father and mother only receiving wages, are 2 francs 70 centimes (54 
cents) per day ; being 40 centimes (8 cents) for lodging, 1 franc 10 cen- 
times (22 cents) for bread, 75 centimes (15 cents) for other aliments, and 
45 centimes (9 cents) for washing, fire and light. In this calculation 
meat is not included, it being only occasionally used by the workmen. 
The total cost for the above items per year is between 98G and 1,000 
fi-ancs. Estimating that the cost of supporting the family falls upon the 
father and mother, on the average conditions, their united wages are 
from 1,150 francs to 1,250 francs a year, being an excess above expense 
in the first case of 150 francs, and in the second of 250 francs. But in 
the above calculation neither clothing nor furniture are included, and 
absence from animal food is a condition of the estimate. Where family 
life must necessarily be so hard and austere, and having scarcely any 
enjoyment except that derived from performance of duty, we are not siu"- 
I)rised to find among the statistics of a city provided even with schools 
and religious institutions, that in the year 1863, of a population of 54,000 
there were but 487 marriages, and that there were 283 illegitimate births, 
of which 265 were not acknowledged. 

It is due to the French social writers and statisticians to say that the 
facts illustrative of the condition of the laborers are stated without any 
attempt to justify them on the one hand, or to exaggerate them on the 
other. It woidd appear that the evils of the European ride of the com- 
pensation of labor are so vast and so entwined with the existing social 
and political system, that it is vain to attempt to grapple with them. 
" The question of wages," says one writer, " is one of the most important 
questions of oiu^ epoch, and x^erhaps the most difficidt to resolve ; we 
shall not attempt to discuss it." Another writer says : " Before long this 
question of wages wUl occupy a more important part than it has done 
before in the respective accounts and means of defence of the various 
industries." It is hoped that for this country, at least, the question of 
wages is solved by adopting the system of protection, not of manufac- 
tui'es, but of labor, " as the means of defence of oiu* various industries." 

OTHEE EUEOPEAE^ NATIONS. 

BELGIUM, GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. 

The other principal centres of the woollen industry upon the continent 
of Europe can be passed in review but briefly. In Belgium, the princi- 
pal seat of the card- wool industry is at Yerviers. This city, a century 
ago a town of 5,000 souls, has acquired through its woollen manufac- 
tures a population of 28,000, and with that of its suburbs of 40,000. In 
1797 its production amounted to the value of three or four millions of 
francs. In 1864 the production was valued at 70,000,000 francs, its 
annual increase being at the rate of 10,000 pieces a year. The reputa- 
tion of some of its manufacturers is nowhere surpassed, as of M. Sim- 



WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 61 

mollis, wliose name stands first among the individuals wlio were honored 
by medals in the class of card- wool fsihrics at the Paris Exposition. Bel- 
gium manufactures principally for foreign consumption, and the United 
States is one of its largest outlets. It is able to surmount the barriers 
of our duties, by reducing the wages of its workmen. The day's pay of 
many weavers does not exceed 1 franc 50 centimes, (30 cents,) and 
women do not earn more than from 80 centimes (16 cents) to 1 franc, (20 
cents.) The average wages at Verviers is 2 francs (40 cents) for twelve 
hours' work. By means of this cheap labor, stuffs of wool mixed with 
cotton are jiroduced which cost only from 1 tranc (20 cents) to 1 franc 55 
centimes (31 cents) the metre. The wear and dye are in proportion to 
the price. The low wages in Belgium are looked upon with no little 
alarm by England, and especially by the iron manufacturers. 

The woollen manufacture of the ZoUverein, that is, Germany without 
Austria, according to the most recent statements, employs 850,000 spin- 
dles, and iiroduces tissues of a value of more than 400,000,000 of francs, 
of which 50,000,000 are exx)orted. The cloths, especially the fine broad- 
cloths and doeskins, are largely exjiorted to this country. Competition 
with England and the siu'mounting of our duties are rendered easy by 
still lower wages than prevail in Belgium. The average juice for a day's 
work for weavers in the country does not exceed 1 franc 25 centimes, (25 
cents,) and for towns 1 franc 75 centimes, (35 cents.) Women are paid 
one-third less. 

The following facts as to the production and wages at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
one of the most important centres of the card-wool industry, were 
obtained from Mr. Yesey, United States consul at that city, by Mr. R. 
W. Robinson: 

"Annual j)roduction, 150,000 pieces, of 25 yards to the piece. 

"Raw wool principally procured from Berlin, Breslau, London, and 
Antwerp, in the raw state, 7,500,000 pounds ; average cost from 40 to 
110 thalers, Prussia, the 110 i)ounds English — say 27 cents to 70 cents per 
pound, gold. 

" Wages — 10,000 workmen. 

"Men earn from 3 to 5 thalers per week, $2 25 to $3 75. 

"Women earn from 1^ to 3 thalers per week, $1 to $2 25. 

"Children earn from f to IJ thaler per week, 50 cents to $1 12^." 

Austria works up annually 77,000,000 pounds of wool into tissues which 
represent a value of 150,000,000. The town of Brunn, in the heart of 
the pastoral province of Moravia, is one vast cloth factory, having at 
command an excellent situation at the confluence of two rivers and upon 
two lines of railroad, and also employing the best jirocesses and machines. 
Its really admirable goods have been largely introduced into the United 
States, the introduction ha\ang been aided by a system of invoices in 
fi-aud of our tariff, hardly equalled in unscrupidousness elsewhere. The 
prices of sound cloths are the lowest in Europe, and the average wages 
do not exceed 1 fi-anc 25 centimes (25 cents) a day. 



62 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

GREAT BRITAIN. 

It is tlirougli lier wool tliat England has risen to the first place in the 
world in the textile industry. Her soil and climate favored the culture 
of sheep possessing qualities found in no other race or country. The 
prevailing national sentiment, as expressed in the words of one of its old 
writers, is that " wool is the flower and strength, the revenue and the 
blood of England." Its exclusive possession was secured bj" laws for- 
bidding its exijortation, and the acquisition of auxiliary wools from 
abroad was secured by their admission at small or merely nominal 
imposts. Tlie woollen manufacturers having acquired the highest arts 
of the Low Countries and France, from the refugees whom the persecu- 
tions of the Duke of Alva and the revocation of the edict of Nantes had 
driven to the English shores, were "fondled, favored, and cherished," 
to use the words of Mr. Huskisson, by a persistency of national protec- 
tion mthout parallel in the history of industry. The woollen industry 
was first planted in the eastern and western counties. In the 18th 
centmy it changed its seat to the counties of the north, where coal 
abounded for propelling machinery, and the neighborhood of large flocks 
of sheep gave the choice of fleeces, and in the West Eiding of the county 
of York it has been developed into gigantic proportions. The most 
remarkable woollen establishments of the world are concentrated in this 
district, but distributed in foiu' principal towns, each of which, by a law 
which seems universal, has devoted itself to a special industry. Leeds, 
to heavy drapery ; Huddersfleld, to light drapery ; Halifax, to carpets ; and 
Bradford, to thin and briUiant worsted stuffs. The efl'ect of a succesful 
woolleu industry upon popidation is remarkably illustrated in this dis- 
trict. In the West Riding, where there was a popidation of only 51)3,000 
inhabitants in 1801, it had risen in 1811 to 1,151,000, and in 1807 to 
1,375,000. In 1811 it had increased at Halifax from 03,000 to 130,000,- 
at Huddersfleld from 11,000 to 38,000 ; and at Leeds from 53,000 to 
152,000. The increase of population is still more remarkable at Brad- 
ford, the great seat of the worsted industry. At the commencement of 
the century, when all the wool was spun and woven in the houses of the 
workmen, this town had a poi)ulation of only 13,000 soids ; in 1821 it had 
doubled the number of its inhabitants, which then reached 26,000. By 
the introduction of power-looms in 1825, the use of cotton warps with 
yarns of wool in 1831, and the employment of the hair of the alpaca and 
Angora goat, first used in 1836, the manufacturing industry was so 
developed that it sustained, in 1851, a population of 103,000, and of 
115,000 in 1861, an increase of over 100,000 in half !a ceutmy. In singu- 
lar contrast with the infinite variety which Yorkslm^e now ijroduces, and 
its industry, which occupies upon a distiict of 50 square miles 750,000 
spindles and 35,000 power-looms, distributed in 932 establishments, 
emi)lo5 ing 75,000 woikmen, is the picture left by an ancient statute of 
the condition of the woollen industry in the city of York, in the time of 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 63 

Henry YIII. During tlie reign of tliis mouarcli an act was passed in 
favor of the city of York, reciting and declaring " tliat tlie poor of tliat 
city were daily employed in spinning, dyeing, carding, weaving, &c., for 
tlie making of coverlets, and that the same have not been made in the 
same county till of late ; that this manufacture has spread into other parts 
of the country, and was thereby debased and discredited ; and therefore 
it is enacted that none shall make coverlets but the people of York." 
We see this wretched handicraft now expanded into the most magnifi- 
cent manufacture to be found in the woollen industry of the world. 

Although the West Eidiug of Yorkshire is the most important seat of 
the woollen industry in England, it is by no means confined to this dis- 
trict. Other centres are marked by the same singTdar devotion to par- 
ticular branches observed in Yorkshire. While heavy pilot cloths, &c., for 
overcoats, are produced i)rincipally at Leeds, pantaloon stufis andvestings 
at Huddersfieid, blankets at Dewsbury, carpets and damasks for furniture 
at Halifax, all in Yorkshire ; tweeds, tartans, shawls, &c., are made prin- 
cipally at Galashiels and Hawick; imitation cashmere shawls, at Paisley; 
flannels, in Wales, and at Eochdale ; heavy goods, such as blankets and 
rugging, horse-cloths, &c., in Oxfordshire, and at Witney, Chipping 
Norton, and Kendal, in Westmoreland ; hosiery, at iJ^ottingham, and silk 
and wool poplins at Norwich ; each of these j)oints being recognized as 
the headquarters of the branches of production above enumerated. 

We find a singular deficiency of recent statistics respecting the woollen 
industry of Great Britain, proceeding from the characteristic reticence 
of its manufacturers. This is observable in the proceedings of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce of Bradford, where we might exjiect to find detailed 
information. The most recent statements are those given by Mr. 
Symonds, in 18G1. From them it appears that the total value at that 
IDcriod of the woollen manufacture of the kingdom, separate from the 
worsted manufactiu'e, was £20,290,079, composed of the following items : 
76,000,000 pounds of foreign and colonial wool, valued at £4,717,492 ; 
80,000,000 pounds of British wool, at l.s\ 3^7. per pound, £5,000,000 ; 
30,000,000 pounds of shoddy, at 2^d. per pound, and 15,000,000 pounds 
of nmngo, at -i^d. yev pound, together £009,370 ; cotton and other warjjs, 
used in the union and mixed cloths, £206,537 ; dye-stufis, oil, and soap, 
£1,500,000 ; wages, £150,000 ; work people, at 12s. 6d. per week, £1,875,000 ; 
rent, wear and tear of machinery, repairs, coal, interest on capital and 
profit, 20 per cent, on above, £3,381,680. According to the same author- 
ity, the worsted manufacture consumes 80,000,000 pounds of British 
wool, and 15,000,000 pounds of foreign and colonial wool, and employs 
125,000 hands. The Avliole number of operatives engaged on wool is 
275.000. The total number of persons, directly dependent upon the wool- 
len industry, is set dowTi at 837,500, including the workmen, there being 
a larger numl^er of dependent workers in auxiliary trades than in con- 
nection with any other manufactui'e. 

It is not projjosed to give the details of the compensation of labor in 



64 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

the woollen industry of Great Britain. English statistical statements of 
the reliable character of those given respecting the French industry are 
wanting. The rates obtained from scattered sources vary so much in 
different establishments, locations, and employments, that facts supi)lied 
by a few establishments would lead to no correct conclusions. A better 
opinion can be formed from a general view than a microscopic examiiia- 
tion. M. Ileybaud is of opinion that, throwing aside the exceptional 
cases where the receipts of an English workman and his wife would 
amount to 3,000 or 3,500 francs, the average receipts for the couple can- 
not be fixed at less than 1,700 or 1,800 fiancs, the receipts in Eoubaix in 
corresponding cases being 1,350 francs, and at Amiens 900 francs. The 
average wages in this industry, although materially less than in this 
country, particularly for common hands, and women and children, are 
greatly above those in France and other countries on the continent. 
The Chamber of Commerce of Leeds, according to the author last 
referred to, estimates the wages of the workman at 35 francs for the 
articles best paid, and at 22 francs for those which are least paid, 
with intermediate rates. American manufacturers admit that it is not 
so much the lower rate of wages in England against which we have 
to contend, as the low rates of interest, which permit the emx)lo5Tnent 
of vast capital and most the advantageous use of machinery, together 
with the abundance of labor which may always be recruited from the 
vast reserve corps of paupers, eager to be elevated to the rank of work- 
men. A marked improvement in the material condition of the workmen, 
especially in Yorkshire, has been effected of late years by the increase 
and the lessening of the cost of subsistence. In the West Eiding the 
labor which, in the period from 1845 to 1847, produced 10 shillings per 
per week, udll earn at lu-esent 16 shillings per week. The food for a 
familj" which then cost ds. M. is now obtained for 6s. In this industry 
at the present day, the Yorkshire workmen are able to consume ani- 
mal food at least twice a day, to be respectably clothed, to have some 
luxuries, and accumulate savings. They are the envy of the workmen of 
the continent. Without stopping to inquire whether this change has 
been brought about by chartist agitation, the trade unions, the self-inter- 
est of employers, or the moral enlightenment of the English nation, we 
recognize the fact that the material condition of the English workman 
is vastly superior to that of his brother workman in France, Belgium, 
Prussia, and Austria. On the other hand, it is now freely admitted in 
England that the general and technical education of the English opera- 
tive is far inferior to that of the workmen of the nations above-named. 
The Universal Exposition at Paris served to open the eyes of England 
to the startling fact that she had been making but little progress in man- 
ufacturing and mechanical industry since 1851, compared with that made 
in many other Eiu'opean countries. Among the responses of eminent 
jurors to a request for information, addressed by the Schools Inquiry 
Commission of Jidy 2, 1807, we find the following statements as to the 
inferiority above referred to, and its apparent cause. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 65 

Dr. Playfair says: "A singular accordance of opinion prevailed tliat 
onr country had sliown little inventiveness, and made little progress in 
the peaceful arts of industry since 1862." Professor Tyndal says: "I 
have long entertained the opinion that in virtue of the better education 
provided by the continental nations, England must one day, and that no 
distant one, find herself outstripped by those nations both in the arts of 
peace and war." More pertinently to the immediate subject of this report, 
Mr. Huth says: "I am sorry to say that, although we may still be unsur- 
passed in many of oiu- productions, we no longer hold that pre-eminence 
that Avas accorded to us in 1851. The enormous strides that have of late 
been nuide by our continental rivals in France, Belgium, Prussia, and 
Austria, will make it daily more difficult for our woollen manufacturers 
to hold not only their former prominent i)osition, but even to maintain 
their present one. I found that it is the want of industrial education in 
this country which prevents our manufacturers from making that pro- 
gress which other nations are making. I found both masters and foremen 
in other countries much more scientifically educated than our oavu. The 
workmen of other countries have a far superior education to ours, many 
of whom have none whatever. Their productions show clearly that it is 
not there a machine working a machine, but that brains sit at the loom, 
and intelligence stands at the spinning wheel." 

The references here made to the provisions for scientific and technical 
education upon the continent of Europe are worthy of grave considera- 
tion in this country, and the exami)les cited should stimulate us to extend 
such institutions as already exist here in the schools of the Cooper Insti- 
tute of New York, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The 
cause, however, of the decline of the industrial arts in England, so fuUy 
admitted in the testimony of her own experts, is to be found in a source 
more deeply seated than in a simjile deficiency of technical education. 
Schools of art are the result, as well as the cause, of a national sentiment 
of excellence, and such a sentiment cannot be predominant in a nation 
where the riding idea of its system of manufacture is production at the 
cheapest possible rate for the utmost possible consumption . A constantly 
declining standard of excellence is insej^arable from this idea. The fruits 
are seen in the shoddy cloths, the fragile raih-oad iron, and the hardware, 
to which no more opprobrious term can be applied than that derived from 
its chief seat of fabrication — the trashy fabrics and wares inundating every 
country which does not protect itself by domestic production and defen- 
sive duties. It is to the commerce which this system of manufacture 
nourishes that the famous line of Goldsmith is so justly applicable — 
"And honor sinks where commerce long prevails. '\ 

The French economists deplore the influence of this idea, which has 
crept into France, in consequence of the Anglo-French treaty, and they 
assert that it has exerted a baleful influence upon French artists who 
have sojourned a long time in England. "They lose their manner," it is 
said; "their imagination is subdued; it is a flame which becomes extin- 
5 w 



66 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

guislied by tlie positive and cold spirit of the Englisb." The Avoolleii 
manufacturers of this country in producing, as they have done formerly, 
chiefly for the masses, have followed too much the jiresent English 
system, instead of aiming at the standard of the old English masters of 
the woollen industry, and of their descendants in the western counties, 
who produce for the home markets, or the still higher standard which we 
have seen prevailing in France. The system whicih may be i)rofitable for 
a foreign trade cannot be permanently remunerative for domestic con- 
sumi)tion. In fabricating for the home markets the delinquencies of the 
producer are like jjersonal "sins," which, in the words of the homely 
proverb, "always come home to roost." The false economy of making- 
poor, or, more properly speaking, dishonest fabrics, is sure to be at length 
demonstrated by reclamations of buyers, by accumulating stocks, and, 
finally, by bankrui)t establishments. 

Our mamifactiu'ers, in producing even for the masses, should consider 
how rapidly the masses in this coimtry are improving in taste and in 
appreciation of what is really good, and that American consumers will no 
more be satisfied with ordinary fabrics than American mechanics with 
cheap tools. Let the ancient device of Eoubaix, '^Industrie etprohite,''^ be 
the rule also of American manufacturers ; let the surprising adA^ance of 
oiu' woollen industry in the last five years be the earnest of its futiu^e 
progress, and the excellence and variety of its x^roducts will excite in the 
people a sj^mpathy in our struggles and a national pride in our achieve- 
ments. By our own faithfid work we shall secure the final condition of 
success — a positive public sentiment which shall pervade the country in 
favor of the products of its own soil and labor. 

E. E. MUDGE, 
United States Commissioner to the Farts Exposition of 1867. 



APPENDIX A. 

AMERICAN MERINOS. 

Prepared by request, for this report, by Son. Henry S. Randall , LL. D., 
President of National Wool Groicers' Association} 

Fnll-Wood American merino sheep, as that designation is now under- 
stood, inchide only fnll-ldood descendants of the merinos imjiorted from 
Spain into the United States near the beginning of the present century. 
Six were introduced by different persons between 1793 and 1802. In the 
last named year, Mr. Livingston, the American Minister in France, sent 
home two pairs obtained from the French government flock. Later in 
1802, Colonel Humphreys, the American Minister in Spain, on his return 
from his embassy, shipped a flock to the United States, of which 21 rams 
and 70 ewes safely reached his farm in Connecticut. The merinos 
imported prior to these last have not, so far as is known, left any full- 
blood descendants. 

Col. Humphreys liublished no detailed account of his purchase or of 
the previous history of his sheep. He evidently regarded the fact that 
he i)urchased them, and that he obtained them directly from the merinos 
of Spain, as all that was important to be known, and as a sufficient guar- 
antee of their blood and quality, and so indeed it was. He was a singu- 
larly high-toned and public- spirited man — wealthy — intent on doing a 
j)atriotic service to his country by introducing these sheep ; and that he 
fidly sui)posed that he had accomijlished the latter object he himself 
bears witness. In his i)oem " On the industry of the United States of 
America," he proudly declares : 

"Not guarded Colchis gave admiring Greece 
So rich a treasure iu its golden fleece." 

The particular Spanish family or families from which his sheep were 
selected cannot now be regarded as a matter of any consequence ; but 
from investigations which circumstances formerly impelled me to make 
among all the accessible i)ublic and jirivate records and facts appertain- 
ing to the subject, I came to the undoubting conclusion that they were 
drawn from a single family, and that the Infantado. 

Judging from the statements in Colonel Humphrey's manuscript letters 
lying before me, he not only found great satisfaction but great success 
in breeding his merinos. The very ones he brought from Spain, he says, 
increased half a pound in their fleeces ; and their descendants continued 
to improve in that and every other i^articular. He speaks glowingly of 
their hardiness and propensity to fatten ; and in the highest terms of 
their mutton. This gentleman died iu 1818, when causes, hereafter to be 

1 Author of Sheep Husbandry in the South, Fine Wool Husbandry, The Practical Shep- 
herd, &c., «fec. 



68 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

detailed, had sunk the merinos into contempt and neglect. His invalua- 
ble sheep were then scattered, and, as a general thing, they appear to 
have fallen into the hands of those who attached no great value to their 
blood, for I can learn of but two or three instances where they were pre- 
served distinct after 1820. 

The next importations of imi)ortance were made by Mr. William Jar- 
vis, American consul at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1800 and 1810. Taking- 
advantage of the offers of the Spanish Junto to sell the confiscated flocks 
of certain Spanish nobles, he bought and shipped to different ports in 
the United States about three thousand eight hundred and fifty merinos. 
He wrote to me, in 1811, that about thirteen hundred of these were 
Aqueirres, two hundred Moutarcos, the rest Paulars and Negrettis — 
mostly the foimer. He says : " Those I reserved for myself were com- 
posed of about half Paulars, a quarter Aqueirres, and the other fourth 
of Escurials, Negrettis and Montarcos, which I subsequently mixed 
together." 

In regard to other importations at this period, Mr. Jarvis writes in 
the same letter : " There were sent in the latter year (1810) by others 
about two thousand five hundred, composed of Paulars — had of General 
Downie — Montarcos, AqueuTes and Guadalupes. Part of those went to 
ISew York, part to Boston. All those sheep were Leonesa, trans-human- 
tes, and were of the prime flocks of Spain. I have been able to be thus 
minute in relation to the merinos in 1809 and 1810, as I was then Amer- 
ican consid at Lisbon, which was the port from which they were all 
shipped, it being only about one hundred miles to Badajos, and the near- 
est seaport to that place." Some of these cargoes did not reach the 
United States until 1811. I have elsewhere given the names of a nuiu- 
ber of the importers, and it is not necessary to repeat them here. 

The circumstances existing at the time of the introduction of these 
sheep were highly propitious to their careful breeding and rapid diffu- 
sion. From 1807 to 1812 the maritime regulations of England and 
Prance, and our own retaliatory ones, paralyzed, and during a portion 
of the time entirely suspended, our foreign trade ; and the ensuing war 
with England, which lasted to 1815, completely swept our commerce from 
the ocean. Thus oiu- i)eoiJle were driven to the establishment of wool 
and other manufactures, and to the i^roduction of the raw materials. 
State legislatures, the public press, and politicians of every party and 
grade, encouraged efforts in that direction, and patriotic as well as pecu- 
niary enterprise warmly responded to these appeals. The new importa- 
tion of merinos was hailed with enthusiasm. From $1,000 to $1,500 a 
head was frequently paid for them. Flocks of full-bloods or grades were 
started in all parts of the country. Unwashed full-blood wool rose to 
$2 50 a pound during the war. 

The peace of Ghent exposed our infant and unprotected manufactures 
to the competition of the world. The exhaustion and derangement of 
our finances accelerated their overthrow, and they fell without a strug- 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 69 

gle, and irretrievably. There was no longer any market for fine w<wl in 
the United States ; and merinos valued at $1,000 a head in 1800 sold for 
a dollar a head in 1815. Their propagation as a separate breed was 
thenceforth abandoned by most owners, and the great mass of them 
became merged in the common coarse sheep of the country. 

This state of things continued until 1824. In the tariff of that year 
the protective policy on wool and woollens, inaugurated by the tariff of 
1816, was so far extended that it was supi^osed it would make fine wool 
production again i)rofitable. The Saxon (merino) sheep were introduced, 
and created a new fine wool furor equal to that between 1809 and 1815. 
The tariff of 1828 increased the protection and increased the excitement. 

If we did not know the singular one-ideaism which so often charac- 
terizes these " improvement" manias, it would be a subject of astonish- 
ment that w^hile the Saxon sheep were sought with so much eagerness, 
commanding- quite equal prices A^ith those of the Spanish merinos fifteen 
years earlier, the pure blood flocks of the latter yet in the country 
attracted comparatively little notice, and they were chiefly valued because 
they would grade up more rapifUy than other sheep toward the Saxon 
standard of fineness ; in other words, make a better cross with the Saxons. 
Most unfortunately a large share of the holders of the Spanish, or "old- 
fashioned merinos," as they were then called, adopted the same theory 
of relative value and rushed into the cross, breeding steadily towards 
the Saxons, so as to obliterate the distinctive Spanish characteristics 
as rapidly as possible. Yet at that very time, and at all subsequent times, 
prime Spanish fleeces were worth more in market than Saxon fleeces. 
The gTeater weight of the former more than compensated for the greater 
fineness of the latter. The Spanish were a strong, hardy, thoroughly 
acclimated sheep, well adapted to our climate and systems of husbandry. 
The Saxons were the reverse in every i^articidar.^ 

Yet for upwards of fifteen years the Saxons maintained an almost 
undisputed ascendancy. Their faults were attributed to want of accli- 
mation. They had cost too much to be readily given up. They Avere in 
the hands of the wealthy influential farmers, prominent in agricultural 
literatiu-e, and prominent in politics, who believed themselves and con- 
vinced others that the conditions of success could be secured by protec- 
tive legislation. A corresponding class of manufacturers lu'ged the same 
views. A constant struggle was kept uj) on the floors of Congress 
between the friends and enemies of j^rotection, each usually maintaining 
extreme views, so that when either was victorious extreme measures 

1 To a similar statement in "'Fine Wool Husbandry" I appended a note, which with a 
slight change I will copy here: 

"I truKt no former breeder of the Saxons will complain of these remarks, when I say ' quorum pars fiii. 
Thirty-eight years ago I became the owner of a pure Spanish tlock. Subsequently I purchased some Saxons, 
an'l was so gratified with the produce of a few picked sheep, that I bought and bred a flock usually number- 
ing from 500 to 700. They were derived from the most celebrated tlocks. I kept them several years and 
gave them a fair trial before going back to the Spanish nieriuos, which, very fortunately for myself, I bad 
never entirely abandoned." 



70 PARIS UNIVERSy^L EXPOSITION. 

were adopted. Consequently there was none of tliat steadiness or i)er- 
manency in the public policy, under which industrial interests materially 
affected by f(>reij>n competition can alone floxirish. I have not space here 
to give the provisions of the different wool and woollen tariffs, but a 
glance at the prices of wool under them will throw some interesting light 
on the subject under examination. 

Under the tariff" of 1824, in force until September, 1828, fine wool aver- 
aged a trifle over 45 cents a pound; under the tariff of 1828, extending 
to March 3, 1832, about 57 cents a pound; under the tariff of 1832, 
extending to January, 1834, about 57 cents a i)ound; under the tariff' of 
1833, to towards the close of 1837, about G6f cents a pound ; thenceforth 
under the same tariff', extending to October, 1841, about 51| cents a 
pound; under the tariff' of 1841, extending to September of that year, 
about 4Gi cents a pound; under the first year of the tariff' of 1842, about 
35 J cents a pound; thenceforth under the same tariff, extending to 
December, 184G, about 41 cents a pound. Dming this entire period of 
22 years, fine wool did not on the average exceed medium wool in price 
more than 10 cents a pound, and medium still less exceeded coarse.^ 

During the same period, pure Saxon sheep in the best flocks averaged 
less than three pounds of wool per head. In 1840 the flock of Henry 
D. Grove, the celebrated German importer and breeder — not numbering 
over 200 sheep, and well kept — yielded an average of 2 pounds 11 ounces 
of washed wool a head, and he regarded this product as so satisfactory 
that he adduced it as a proof of the value of his favorite breed in that 
controversy between the advocates of the Saxons and Sj)anish merinos 
which was then filling our agricultiu'al publications.^ 

This controversy had opened in about 1835. At that period small 
picked lots of Spanish merinos, ijurchased by diff'ereut persons of Mr. 
Jarvis, yielded 4^ pounds of washed wool a head. The flocks of Stephen 
Atwood, of Connecticut; of John T. Rich, of Vermont; of Francis Rotch, 
of New York, and my own, yielded an equal amoimt.^ 

The increase in the weight of Spanish fleeces was thenceforth rapid. 
In 1844, my Humphreys sheep yielded 5 pounds 13 ounces of washed 
wool a head,* and a small lot of Rich ewe tegs purchased in Vermont, 
five pounds. In 1845, Mr. Stephen Atwood wrote to the author of the 

iFrom 1827 to J86I inclusive, a period of 35 years, the average price of fine wool at 
Boston was 50 3-10 cents ; of medium, 41 8-10 cents ; of coarse, 35^ cents. Fine wool aver- 
aged 15 per centum higher than njedium, and medium 14 per centum higher than coarse. 

2 See his letter to me in "Transactions" of New York State Agricultural Society, 1841, p. 
333. 

3 Mr. Atwood's flock and my own, here referred to, were descended from Colonel 
Humphrey's flock ; Mr. Rich's from a Paular importation made at New York in 181] ; Mr. 
Rotch's were selected from different flocks. 

* Four of the ewes had two years' fleeces on, but I thought this fully oflfsetted by the 
number of tegs in the flock, which, under the usual treatment of those days, yielded consid 
erably less wool than grown sheep. My Premium ram's first fleece in 1844 was 10 pounds. 
In 1847 one of my ewes produced 7 pounds 10 ounces. In 1849 one of my rams pro- 
duced 13 pounds 3 ounces. All were well washed. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 71 

American Sheplierd, that his flock consisted of 150 half ewes and half 
rams and wethers; that his ewes yielded five j^ounds of washed wool 
per head, and his lambs an equal amount ; that his wethers yielded six 
pounds, and his rams from seven to nine pounds ; that his heaviest ewe's 
fleece in the preceding spring was six pounds six ounces, and the 
heaviest ram's fleece 12 pounds 1 ounces. I think a few other flocks 
yielded about equal amounts of wool, but the facts are not before me. 
The prime merinos of that period then were producing upwards of two 
pounds more of wool a head than prime Saxons, while that of the latter 
fetched in the market but 6| cents per pound most in 1815, and but G^ 
cents per pound most in 1846. 

The Saxon breeders had never received anything like a i)roportionable 
remuneration for their wool. They had lived on hopes deferred, looking- 
for changes which never came. When the tarift' of 1840 overthrew the 
broadcloth manufactures of the country, there was no longer any ground 
for hope, and the Saxon sheep rapidly disappeared and gave place to 
the American merinos, as the Spanish sheep were thenceforth generally 
called. 

They had indeed become a distinctive variety, like the Saxon Merino, 
the French merino, &c., presenting both essential and visible difl'erences 
from their Spanish ancestors or from any other merino family. They 
diflered materially from the Spanish in amount of wool, size, and form. 
The weights of prime American washed fleeces have just been stated. 
Livingston gives the average weight of the Spanish ram's fleece, 
unwashed, at the beginning of this centiuy, at 8J pounds — Youatt at 
eight pounds. Both give the average of the unwashed ewe's fleece at 
five pounds. The King of England's carefully selected Negrettis, about 
100 in number, yielded, for five successive years, (1798-1802,) an average 
of Siff pounds of brook- washed wool — scoured weight 2L5-2, Tiiig 
included the wool of some wethers (the number unspecified) but no 
rams.^ In 1801 Dupont de Nemours and an associate sent to the United 
States unquestionably the largest-fleeced Spanish ram ever introduced 
here.'^ He produced S^ pounds of washed wool. Colonel Humphreys 
mentions it as a matter of note, in a manuscript letter which I have 
read, that a merino ram bred by himself yielded seven pounds five 
ounces of washed wool. 

In respect to size and form, Petri, who visited Spain in the early part 
of this century to examine its merinos, gave a table from which I select 

1 See Sir Joseph Banks's annual reports concerning this flock. 

2 Dupont de Nemours was head of the commission appointed by the French government 
to select the merinos given up by Spain by the treaty of Basle. He and M. Delessert sent 
four rams to America, three of them intended for their own farms in this country, and one 
for President Jetferson. All but one perished on the passage. The remark in the text is 
confined to Spanish sheep imported from Spain. French merinos of heavier fleece were 
subsequently introduced. 



72 



PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 



the following admeasurements. 
American merinos: 



I add some corresponding ones of 





_: 


o 


o 


^ 










an 




o 






s 




^ 


a 




s 


Names of flocks. 


bo 

a 
•3 

3 


o 

p P 


g 
o „■ 

B 2 


o 

E 1 


p 


o 

Of 




a 


1 

■~ ft 




.2 


o o 
4; -a 




1 ° 


"3 




O 


^ 






.to 


■a 


5 

to 

a 


J3 

to 

a 


0) 


B 
s 
o 


i 


"3) 






^ 


iJ 


h) 


tS 


Eh 


5 


s 


a 





Negretti : 


Lbs. 


In. 


F«. in. 


Ft. in. 


J^?. in. 


Ft. in. 


J'f. m. 


In. 


In. 


Ram 


97 


9i 

8i 


1 7 


2 2 


4 6i 

4 2i 


4 H 

4 li 


1 3 


10 


6 


Ewe 


67 


1 6 


2 1 


X 1 


9i 


4i 


Infant ado : 














Ram 


lOOJ 
70 


10 
9 


1 6 

1 5k 


2 3 
2 1 


4 7 
4 3i 


4 2 
3 11 


1 
1 


9 

8i 


6 


Ewe 


5.i 


Guadeloupe : 




















Ram 


m 

69 


9 
9 


1 6 
1 2 


2 2 
2 1 


4 5 
3 11 


4 5i 
3 9 


1 
lOi 


8 


6 


Ewe 


4 


Estantes of Sierra de Somo : 




Ram 


96i 
62J 


9i 
9 


1 6 
1 2 


2 
2 1 


4 3* 
4 


4 2i 
3 10 


1 

11 


8 
7 


6 


Ewe 


5 


Small Estantes : 




Ram 


43 


7i 


1 3 


1 9 


3 7i 


3 2 


10 


6,^ 


3 


Ewe 


30 


7 . 


1 1 


1 6 


3 2 


2 10 


8 


6 


3 


American merino : 




Ram 


122 


9 


10 


2 4 


3 11 


4 4i 


11 


9 


9 


Ewe 


114 


9i 


10 


2 4 


3 lU 


4 1* 


11 


9 


8 


Ewe 


122 
100 


9 
9 


10 

11 


2 5 
2 3 


4 
3 11 


4 3 

4 i 


9 

8i 


9 

8 


8 




8 







The weights and measures given of the Spanish sheep are Austrian, 
a little exceeding English weights and measures. From a careful com- 
parison of all the figures, I think Petri must have taken the circumfer- 
ence of the belly without compressing the wool, for if there was no 
greater difterenee in this particular, it is difficult to see from the above 
table — notwithstanding the marked superiority in breadth of hip of the 
American sheep — why they should have weighed so much the most. 
The American ram represented in the table was a small one, not usually 
weighing over 100 pounds with his fleece off. A fidl-sized one of the 
family (Infantado) would have weighed from 10 to 25 pounds more. 
The ewes were rather above the average of my grown sheep of the same 
family, and were in good ordinary condition. My measurements 
were made in 1801, and therefore do not exactly represent merinos of 
1846 ; but I think the change in size and form was not very considera- 
ble between those dates ; and I am not aware that any corresponding 
data of the American merinos of 1846 are preserved. 

Some persons perhaps will get a clearer idea of the difference between 
the form of Spanish and American merinos from descriptive terms than 
from the above figures. The American sheep was far the lowest, round- 
est, and most comjiact animal, broader on the hip, fuller and broader in 
the bosom and breech, and shorter, proportion ably, in the neck and legs. 
The Spanish migratory sheep travelled 800 miles a year, and, all things 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 73 

considered, with great rapidity ; and liis deep, narrow chest, longer legs, 
and lean form — making some approach to that of the deer — adapted him 
to that necessity. The American farmer had no occasion for such prop- 
erties, and he bred a sheep better calculated to take on flesh and fat, and 
possessing more of the essential points which are found most profitable 
in animals not required to travel far for their feed. 

The American merino has not much increased in size during the last 
20 years, and probably scarce any since 1861. Our breeders, indeed, 
have sought no such increase, considering it uniirofitable in respect to 
wool production, inasmuch as smaller animals have more surface in pro- 
portion to weight than larger ones, and believing that a development of 
size greatly beyond the long established limits of the breed is unfavor- 
able to vigor, hardinesss, and easy keeping. I think the introduction 
of French merinos (1840-1850) exerted much influence on public opinion 
and taste in this particular. These great overgrown sheep, which, at first 
attracted so much admiration, proved so completely weak and worthless 
that our breeders got to eschew everything resembling them, and the 
I)opular impression was that their want of constitution was due to their 
extraordinary size for the breed, or rather to the same causes whicli had 
produced that size.^ 

The Rich or Paular family of American merinos, when not much mixed 
with the Humphreys or Infantado family, are smaller than the latter — 
having been bred purj^osely in that direction by their earlier proprietors, 
to adapt them to the short keep of the Vermont hills. In their natural 
and unpampered state, they are nearly as hardy under privation and 
exj)osure as the British mountain breeds. The unpampered American 
Infantado is also a hardy sheep, but requires more food than the former. 
The two families bear the same relation to each other as do Devon and 
short-horn cattle. One is the most profitable in sterile and exposed sit- 
uations, the other on rich lands and generous keep. Latterly, the Paular 
family have been, to a large extent, crossed with and bred towards the 
Infantados, but I think it highly expedient that they be preserved as a 
distinct variety, to meet the wants of many i)ortions of our country. 

While the carcass of the merino has been so materially improved in 
the United States, and whUe its improved form has doubtless diminished 
its capacity for long and rapid travelling, I am not aware that it (I speak 
of unpampered sheep) has lost in any characteristic of value for its 
present situation. From my own recollections of the breed when it was 
but little changed from the original Spanish model, and fi"om all the 

' I do not intend to apply these remarks indiscriminately to the merinos of France. The 
stock imported by Mr. D. C. Collins, in 1840, from the royal flock at Rambouillet, were not 
thus overgrown. Their size, however, materially exceeding that of the American merino, 
was an entire novelty and a most captivating one to the popular eye. Consequently most of 
the later importers selected not only from the largest French stocks, but the largest sheep of 
the flocks from which they purchased — often paying comparatively little attention to 
other characteristics. These gaunt, unthrifty monsters, required an excess of keep and 
care, and then they generally perished within a year or two of the period of their iutroduc 
tion here. 



74 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

older recollections of experienced and reliable men with whom I con- 
versed many years ago on tlie subject — men in various instances whose 
recollections of these sheep extended back to the time of their importa- 
tions in 1809-1811, I am satisfied that their vigor of constitution has 
been on the whole increased ; that they are more prolific, and furnish 
their offspring more milk ; and it is certain, as already said, that they 
fatten more rapidly and better, and furnish better mutton. They accu- 
mulate, it is true, far less fat than the English mutton breeds ; but good 
merino wethers are favorites in our markets. Their meat is darker 
colored and shorter grained than that of English sheep. It flavor is 
good. Multitudes of Americans prefer it to English mutton, and especi- 
ally to Long- wool mutton ; and the lambs of Southdown rams and grade 
merino ewes sell in our early markets for equal prices, pound for pound, 
with full blood Southdowns; perhaps the only other variety which 
habitually commands an extra price. And it has been found that pam- 
pering from birth, as mutton sheep are pampered, gives the merino a 
very liberal share of that early matiuity which has been denied to it 
by those w]i<3 have described the original variet^^ I am not contending, 
by any means, that the improved American merino rivals the British 
breeds as a profitable mutton sheep ; but I would show" that it no longer 
takes the low rank in that particular which has been traditionally 
assigned to it, and that its mutton has become an important considera- 
tion in estimating its general value, or its comparative adaptation to 
special localities. 

But it is in weight of fleece that the American merino has made the 
most remarkable advance beyond its progenitors. We have seen that 
in 1844-'5 small very choice lots yielded an average of over 5 lbs. a head 
of Avashed wool. Now flocks of several hundred, including tegs, ^Nith- 
out any wethers and not more than one per cent, of rams, on fair ordi- 
nary keep, yield an equal amount. Flocks of picked sheep jield 6 lbs. 
a head, and small, high-kept lots a pound or two more, all of washed 
wool. 

It has become difficult indeed, for reasons which w ill presently appear, 
to learn accurately the amount of well-washed wool in a large j)roportion 
of the heaviest-fleeced small flocks. These are usually in the hands of 
" breeders" — ram-sellers, as they are termed in England — who raise sheej) 
especially to seU them for breeding pm-poses, and who expect to obtain 
extraordinary j)rices. This business has been highly remunerative for a 
number of years; and during the recent war of the rebellion, the 
demand for choice merinos swelled into a mania. According to the 
popular idea "king cotton" was dead, and there was to be no resurrec- 
tion for him. Woollen fabrics were permanently to supersede cotton 
fabrics in clothing, and in ever}i:hing else where it could be employed 
as a substitute. There was therefore to be an enormous and j^erpetual 
demand for wool at high prices. Stimulated by such golden prospects, 
sheep holders increased their flocks, and made the most energetic eflbrts 
to improve them by the purchase of valuable rams ; and thousands of 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 75 

persons, wholly inexi>erienced in the business, abandoned other piu'suits 
to embark tor the ovine El Dorado. I think, speaking within bounds, 
I received two or three thousand letters, between 18G1 and 1807, from 
lawyers, doctors, small merchants, clerks, mechanics, men out of busi- 
ness, clergymen, and farmers not previously engaged in sheep hus- 
bandry, who propounded inquiries on the subject of breeds, the most 
profitable localities for wool growing, and other matters connected with 
the establishment of flocks. 

The prices of sheep rose above the high-water marks of 1809-15 and 
1821-28. Without speaking of "refused offers," which sometimes are 
not very real, I know that an American merino ram actually sold for 
$5,000; quite a number of others at $3,000 to $4,000 each ; and multitudes 
at $500 to $1,000 each. Several ewes were sold at $3,000 each ; more at 
$2,000 each ; and many at $500 to $1,000 each. There was the most 
eager competition to secure celebrated and costly animals; for every 
man expected to become a ram seller forthwith, and he found no difti" 
cidty in convincing himself how A^ery soon he could thus obtain back 
his original expenditure, and then, by an easier process than was dreamed 
of by the alchemists, transmute his sheep into gold. In the lit'i'iui^ient 
improvements of flocks, these costly animals, it is true, often richlj^ paid 
for themselves ; ^ but many of the recent adventurers in the business 
were not satisfied with this — were not satisfied because they could not 
at once sell for as high prices as they had given ; and when at the close 
of the war a temporary depression necessarily ensued in the woollen and 
consequently in the wool markets, (owing to causes which do not demand 
explanation here,) they were as anxious to abandon as they had been to 
embark in sheei) husbandry. 

This remarkable era in merino breeding, commencing in sound meas- 
ures of imi)rovement, but cidminating during the war in the excitement 
which I have described, developed several fashions in breeding and 
management which were altogether new in the business. Quality of 
wool was little talked about. Weight of fleece was the primary con- 

*Take an example. My American merino ram, " Twenty-one per cent," (measurements, 
&c., of which are subjoined to Petri's table, heretofore given,) was previously owned by 
Major Davis Cossit, of Onondaga, New York, and used by him in 1859 and the two suc- 
ceeding years. His ewes were Saxons, with sufficient American merino blood to yield, on 
ordinary keep, about 4 ibs. of washed wool a head. In 1862 the fleeces of the progeny of 
this cross were first weighed separately. Eighty-three two-year old ewes yielded 552 lbs., 
and 80 yearling ewes 5(14 lbs. of washed wool — within a fraction of 6^ lbs. a head. Each lot 
was the entire one (of ewes) of the year. In 1863, 65 two-year old and 92 yearling ewes 
yielded l,119Jlbs. of washed wool, or an average of 7 lbs. 2 oz. a head. The yearlings 
were not over 14 mouths old when shorn, and none of the sheep had been pampered. The 
original stock of ewes would never have fetched over, say, $8 a head immediately after 
shearing. For their progeny (ewes) the owner was otfered $30 a head. The grade rams 
were mostly sold in lots, for $15 to $25 a head. I used this ram three years on my full-blood 
ewes ; and I think he permanently increased the wool product of the flock half a pound per 
head — quite as extraordinary a gain as the preceding one, when the blood and previous pro- 
duct of my flock are considered. This remarkable ram was bred by Mr. Hammond, of 
Vermont. 



76 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

sideration ; and it became the custom of many " breeders" to weigh the 
fleeces in the yolk, because, I suppose, it gave them an advantage over 
others. A rigid system of housing their sheep from contact with rain 
or snow the year round wouhl preserve all the yolk in the fleece, and 
this woidd add to its weight several pounds. The holders of larger 
flocks could not do this without great inconvenience and exi)ense. The 
former, therefore, were enabled to go into the ncAvspapers with far higher 
statements of weights of fleeces. Inasmuch as this system of housing 
and preserving all the yolk in the wool gave the fleece externally a very 
dark color, that color soon became a prime necessity of fashion. And 
as the more the yolk, the more the weight and the darker the color, yolk 
itself was as carefully bred for as wool. I have seen it literally dropping 
from the fleece under a hot sun. As a high-fed sheep produces con- 
siderably more wool and yolk than an ordinarily kept one, a system of 
pami)ering was also extensively resorted to. Many of the summer and 
winter housed flocks were fed grain to the utmost verge of immediate 
safety, and far beyond the bounds of ultimate safety ; for such continued 
forcing is destructive to the constitution and longevity of merino sheep, 
as all will bear witness who have tried or observed its effects. 

Under the above system of breeding and treatment, and sometimes 
without any special pampering, merino rams' fleeces in the yolk are fre- 
quently reported as weighing upwards of 25 pounds, and some have risen 
to 30 pounds. Ewes' fleeces range fi'om 10 pounds to 15 pounds, and 
sometimes individuals or small lots have gone higher. Unfortunately 
these weights afford scarcely an approximate criterion of the actual weight 
of the tvool, the proportion of yolk to wool possessing no uniformity. The 
breeders' customs above described constitute the reason which I promised 
to give, in a preceding part of this paper, why the present amount of 
well washed wool in most of the heaviest fleeced flocks cannot be accu- 
rately determined. 

The practice of housing sheep from rain and snow for the preceding 
objects is not a fraud, if distinctly avowed to all buyers. But I think it 
productive of no benefit, and of considerable injury. It is a useless waste 
of a good deal of time, and occasionally produces loss in other respects. 
The new-mown hay or grain must be left to get wet on the ground, to the 
serious deterioration of its quality, rather than have the precious weight- 
giAdng and color- giving yolk washed out of the fleece! And there can, it 
appears to me, be no reasonable doubt that this habitual non-exposure to 
the ordinary changes of weather must, in the course of time, to a greater 
or lesser degree, beget an incapacity to endure such exposures with 
entire impunity. Besides, this housing, if ever so frankly proclaimed, 
tends to warp the judgment of all buyers, and especially inexperienced 
buyers. If it did not give a fictitious value to the animal — rendering it 
more salable than sheep of equal value not thus treated — what would be 
the use of it? It is perfectly notorious that it, with early shearing,^ does 

^ These "fitted" sheep are sheared from a month and a half to two months earlier than 
sheep in general. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 77 

SO alter the appearance of slieep, that a pair of twins of the closest resem- 
blance, one thus treated and the other not, scarcely look as if they 
belonged to the same variety, and the "fitted" one will far outsell the 
other. It is considered the breeder's right, in all kinds of domestic stock, 
to "put the best foot forward," and it is equally done with other breeds 
of sheep; but it is a pity that a higher standard of action cannot be per- 
mitted to prevail. Such fashions beget inducements to direct fraud- 
Thousands of jxn'»f«? sheep (painted to the true color by a preparation of 
oil, burnt umber, and a little lampblack) are annually hawked about the 
country, with pedigrees as artificial as their color, and sold as genuine 
simon inures. 

Fitting sheep for sale by pampering is fraudulent, for it is never avowed 
or admitted, and if it were so, there can be no honest or decent excuse 
for a practice which is directly and undeniably fatal to the well-being of 
the animal. We have no right to poison what we sell, because we know 
there will be fools to buy it, and to buy it more readily because it is 
poisoned. Another result has followed this indiscriminate scramble for 
huge fleeces. Those Avho have carried it farthest have usually consider- 
ably depreciated the quality of the wool. The finest fleeces are not gen- 
erally the heaviest. The greatest combination of wool and yolk — how- 
ever coarse, uneven, and even hairy, the former — has been what these 
extremists have looked for in their breeding rams; and the progeny of 
such rams must of course partake of the st"ime characteristics. I shall 
presently speak of the i^revailing character of American merino wool. 

To complete my account of these animals I must allude to one more 
modern fashion, that of breeding those folds and corrugations of the skin, 
usually termed "wrinkles." They, to a certain extent, characterized the 
original Spanish merino when introduced into this country, but they were 
confined principally to the neck. To a reasonable extent they are approved 
of in all countries where the merino is bred, being understood to indicate 
heavy fleeces. But our American extremists reasoned that, if some were 
desirable, more would necessarily be better; and these wrinkles "took 
the eye" of novices. Our most sagacious breeders have continued to 
resist this innovation; but it is not uncommon to see rams, and even 
ewes, in addition to enormous neck-folds, closely covered from head to 
tail with folds in the skin, elevated an inch or more from the surface of 
the body. There are two profound objections to this. The wool on the 
upper part of the ridges very rarely corresponds in quality with that 
between them, thus destroying all evenness of fleece; and it often takes 
an expert shearer two hoiu"s to clip off the fleece of one sheep evenly. 
With shearers at $2 to $2 50 a day, the last consideration will prove an 
important one among wool gTowers who own sheep in any considerable 
numbers, and this miserable fashion cannot long prevail. 

Notwithstanding the shams and deceits, as well as more innocent prac- 
tices, which have been resorted to by a class of sellers of American 
merinos to produce great fleeces in their unwashed state, there has 



78 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

unquestionably been a very gTeat improvement in the actual weight of 
the washed or scoured fleeces within the last few years. I do not believe 
there is any other national family of merinos, or any other breed of 
sheep whatever, that can vie with them in this respect. This fact is, I 
think, established by the scouring- tests made so frequently during the 
last few years by State and local wool growers' associations, and by indi- 
viduals. In all these, which have commanded any attention, the sheep 
have been publicly shorn at the meeting of an association, or, in indi' 
vidual tests, in the presence of a number of reputable Avitnesses. The 
age of the Heece has been proven by affidavits. Where tlie test made 
was the proportion of wool to weight of animal, the animal has been pub- 
licly weighed when shorn, and its condition noted. The associations have 
selected competent and reliable avooI manufacturers to perform the scour- 
ing, and required of them statements of processes and results. The ISTcav 
York State association, in its scouring tests of I860, 1860, and 1867, 
appointed a committee of eminent and experienced gentlemen to make an 
examination of all the facts and of the scoured wool;^ and other State 
and county associations, and individuals, have taken these or otlier 
steps deemed necessary to secme accuracy and command entire public 
confidence. 

These expermients have demonstrated that the scoured fleeces of 
American merino rams of full growth not unfrequently range from six to 
over eight pounds, and in a recent instance, in this State, (New York,) 
one reached the weight of nine pounds and three ounces, the fleece being 
of 11 months and 21 days' groAvth. This ram was three years old, weighed 
108 ])ounds after shearing, and was in good condition. His unwashed 
fleece was 24 pounds. The scoured fleeces of full-grown American merino 
ewes frequently weigh from five to over five and a half pounds ; the shorn 
carcases weighing from, say, 65 to 75 pounds. And it should be remarked 
that the heaviest fleeced sheep of the most celebrated flocks have, in very 
few instances, been entered in these scouring tests, for the reason, doubt- 
less, that their owners have not been willing to risk their established 
reputation by any new or unnecessary experiments. 

From the preceding facts it appears, first, that prime American merinos 
produced more washed w^ool in 1814-'46 than was produced of unwashed 
wool by the original stock in Spain, at their palmiest period, the opening 
of the present century ; second, that prime American merinos produce 
about as much scoured wool now as they did of icashed wool in 1814-'4:6, 
and nearly twice as much scoured wool as the picked merino flock of the 
King of Great Britain from 1798 to 1802.* They undoubtedly produce 
twice as much scoured wool as the average of the prime Spanish flocks 
at that ijeriod. 

1 The committee also apprais-ed the value of the scoured wool, aud presented various other 
comparative data of value, not necessary to be mentioned here. 

- 1 take into account the wethers in the King's flock, which yield considerably more wool 
than ewes. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 79 

It remains to speak of the quality of American merino wool. From 
tlie best information I can obtain, the wool of the descendants of the 
original Spanish sheep imported into this country rather gained in 
quality between 1809 and 1824. This was undoubtedly true of the Jarvis 
and Humiihreys stocks ; and from 1821 to 1816 there was a more decided 
gain in this direction, owing to the taste for fine wools diffused by the 
prevalence of the Saxons. After 1846, for reasons already stated, the 
demand for broadcloth wools ceased, and our merino breeders sought a 
rather coarser and also a longer staple, because it was equally adapted 
to the fabrics in which it was thenceforth employed, and because much 
heavier fleeces coidd thereby be secured. It is now, in our heaviest 
fleeced flocks, too coarse for a good quality of broadcloths, and it is also 
quite too long for that purpose, two inches and a half being- not far from 
the medium length, and wool three inches long- being frequently met 
with. It has a remarkably strong- staple, and is found admirably adapted 
to fine wool combing purposes and to those medium fabrics which con- 
stitute so large a proportion of the consumption of the United States. 

In regard to the particular properties .of our full blood and grade 
American merino wools, the executive committee of the National Associa- 
tion of Wool Manufacturers, the committee itself consisting of the most 
eminent and successful manufacturers in the United States, bore the fol- 
lowing voluntary testimony in a public report made in 1866 : " In a class of 
fabrics, entering perhaps more largely than any other into general con- 
sumption — that of flannels — the superiority due principally to the admira- 
ble adaptation of the common wools of this country, their strength and 
spinning qualities is so marked as almost wholly to exclude the foreign 
flannels. American fancy cassimeres compare favorably in finish, fine- 
ness, and strength, with those imported. Our delaines, owing again, in 
a gieat measure, to the excellence of our merino combing wool, surpass 
the fabrics of Bradford at the same price. The excellence of American 
shawls was admitted at the Great Exhibition in London." And they 
subsequently add: "It has been the experience of all nations, that the 
domestic supply of this raw material has been the first, and always the 
chief, dependence of its manufacturers, and the- peculiar character of this 
material has impressed itself upon the fabrics which each country has 
produced. Thus, in the fine wools of Saxony and Silesia, we have the 
source of German broadcloths f in the combing wools of England, the 
worsteds of Bradford; and, in the long- merino wools of France, the ori- 
gin of her thibets and cashmeres. The peculiar excellencies of American 
wools have given origin to our flannels, our cassimeres, our shawls, and 
our delaines ; and they give strength and soundness to all the fabrics 
into which they enter." 

A gradually reviving demand for wool suitable for broadcloths and 
some other fine fabrics has led to the introduction, within a few years, of 
merinos of shorter and finer staple, from Silesia, in Prussia; sheep vastly 
superior to our former Saxons in size, constitution, and product of wool. 



80 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

There are also Saxon slieep, so-called, of pure merino blood, in contigu- 
ous portions of western Pennsylvania, eastern Oliio, and the part of 
West Virginia which lies between those States, which furnish a very 
high quality of broadcloth wool. They too are larger, hardier, and yield 
more wool than the original Saxons imported in 1824-1828. But any 
account or description of these tiimiHes does not come within the pro- 
vince of this paper. 
Cortland Village, JSfew York, July, 1868. 



$ 



APPENDIX B. 
THE ANGORA GOAT; ITS ORIGIN, CULTURE, AND PRODUCTS/ 

By John L. Hayes, 
Secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. 

The Jardiu des Plantes, tlie source aud model of our societies of 
uatural history, gave to the world uot ouly Buftbu aud Cuvier, who, by 
their brilliaut labors, won for the researches of the uatui-alist a place iu 
the domaiu of scieuce, before accorded ouly to studies of the iuipoudera- 
ble elemeuts, but two other scarcely less illustrious uaturalists, whose 
labors were iuspired by the purpose of applyiug- their favorite scieuce to 
iucrease the material resources of mau. To this idea France owes the 
merino sheep Avith which Daubenton eudowed her, and the Imperial 
Society of Acclimatatiou, the creation of Geoftroy St. Hilaire, which aims 
to submit to iDractical study all the animals by whose acquisition the 
geographical zone of France can be advantageously augmented. Trust- 
ing that this society may regard with favor the discussion of a subject 
akin to those which have received the attention of the great practical 
naturalists of France, I iiropose to submit a memoir upon the Angora 
goat, the last acquisition which our agriciUtiu-e and manufactures have 
received from the animal kingdom. 

When we reflect that of the numerous species which compose the ani- 
mal kingdom 43 only are at the command of man, and that the oulj' 
lanigerous animal extensively appropriated in this country, besides its 
product of food, has furnished in a single year, from domestic sources, 
70 per cent, of the raw material for a manufacture valued at over 
$120,000,000, we must regard the acquisition of a new animal, producing 
food and material for clothing, as an epoch in the industrial history of 
the country. It is the peculiar province of a society like this to aid the 
development of this new national resource hy shedding the fidlest light 
upon the specific and geographical source of this animal, upon its habits, 
food, and diseases, the use of its products, and, above all, upon the laws 
which govern its reproduction ; in a word, to make upon this subject 
natural history applied. As my object is less to present original matter 
than to diffuse the best authenticated information, corrected by your 
criticism, or sanctioned by your approval, a work rendered necessary by 
the errors abounding in agricultural reports and i^ublications, I shall 
avail myself of the memoirs of M. Brandt, M. Tchihatcheff, M. Sacc, and 
M. Boulier, naturalists of high repute, and the very numerous notices scat- 
tered through the proceedings of the Imperial Society of Acclimatation. 

The description of this animal, given in 1855, by M. Brandt, director 
of the Museum at St. Petersburg, and distinguished among the zoologists 

^Eead before the Boston Society of Natural History, March 18, 1868.. 

6w 



82 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

of Europe for his conscientious work and jirofound knoAvledge, is as fol- 
lows : " The magnificent example of the Angora goat, which the Museum 
of the Imperial Academy owes to M. Tchihatcheff, produces at first sight 
the general impression of a domestic goat, when attention is not directed 
to its thick and silky fleece, to its flat ears turned downwards, and its 
inconsiderable size. But it is precisely these traits which impress upon 
this animal a distinct seal, which give it the character of a pecidiar race, 
whose origin is perhaps not the same as that of the domestic goat. The 
extremity of the snout, the cheeks, the nasal and frontal bone, as well as 
the ears, and lower part of the legs below the tarsal articulation, are 
covered with external hairs, which are shorter and thicker than those 
which cover the above-mentioned parts in other species of goats. The 
forehead has soft hairs of less length, less applied to the skin, and, in 
part, curled. The hair of the beard, which is pointed and of moderate 
dimensions, being six inches in leugth,^ is stifter than the hah' of the rest 
of the body, but less so than that of the beard of the ordinary goat. The 
horns, of a grayish white tint, are longer than the head; at their lower 
part the interior marginal border tiu-us inwards in such a manner that 
in this part they appear broad viewed in front, and narrow when seen 
exteriorly; at half their extension they direct themselves moderately 
backwards, and turn spirally outwards, so that their extremities, directed 
slightly upwards, are very much separated one from the other, and cir- 
cumscribe a space gradually contracting itself The whole of the neck, 
as well as the trunk, is covered with long hairs, which, particularly upon 
the neck and lateral parts of the body, are twisted in spirals having the 
appearance of loosened ringlets, it being observed at the same time that 
they unite themselves into rolled tufts, a disposition which is less marked 
in tlie anterior part of the neck. The hairs which exhibit the greatest 
length are situated above the forelegs, and are almost nine and one-half 
inches long. Those of the neck are a little shorter and are nine inches 
long, and those of the belly eight inches three lines. The length of the 
hair with which the lateral parts of the body, as well as the back, are 
covered, is only seven inches six lines, and that of the hair of the hind 
legs six inches to seven inches. Finally the slight stiff hair of the tail is 
about foiu- inches in length. The color of the robe of the animal is a pui-e 
white, here and there slightly inclining to yellow. The hoofs, somewhat 
small in proportion, are, like the horns, of a grayish white tint. The hair 
is, without exception, long, soft, and fine ; it is at once silky and greasy 
to the touch, and shows distinctly the brilliancy of silk." 

M. Brandt observes that the hairs corresponding most to external hair 
have only a third, or at most do not attain half, the thickness of the 
external hair of the common goat ; and that the external hair of the 
wild and domestic goats is not only closer, stifter, and more massive, but 
has a more considerable torsion and a less even siu-face ; that is to say, 

' All the dimensions given by M. Brandt are in German measurement. One German foot 
is equal to 1.0299 English feet. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 83 

it is rougher and more scaly. He also remarked that " the walls of the 
hair of the Angora goat being thinner than those of the hair of the com- 
mon goat, the substance contained in the fatty cellules oozes out more 
readily, which renders the hair of the Angora goat softer and more flexi- 
ble, and gives it the lustre of silk." 

M. Brandt omits to mention that the long ringlets cover the hair, 
properly called, which is rough and short and lies sparingly upon the 
skin. 

The dimensions of the specimen examined by Mr. Brandt are given by 
him as follows : ^ 

Ft. 

From the point of the snout to the root of the tail 5 

Length of head 

From the point of the snout to the eye 

From the eye to the ear 

From the eye to the horns 

Length of ear 

Length of horns in direct diameter 1 

Length of horns following the curvature 1 

Distance between horns taken at their roots 

Distances between their terminal points 1 

Width of horns at theii- roots 

Length of tail, including the hair 

Height of anterior part of the body 2 

Height of posterior part of the body 2 

The point of inquiry most strictly pertinent to the objects of this soci- 
ety, and one at the same time eminently practical, as indicating the laws 
which govern the reproduction of this animal, thus illustrating the rela- 
tions of pure science with utilitarian ends, is the determination of the 
specific source of the Angora goat. 

The popular opinion as to the origin of this species is founded upon 
the authority of Cuvier, who mentions but three species of the genus 
Capra — Capra cvga/jnis, Capra ibex, Capra caucasica. He says: '■'• Capra 
wgayrm appears to be the stock of all the varieties of domestio goat 5" 
adding that they vary infinitely in size and color, in the length and fine- 
ness of the hair, in the size of the horns, and even in the number; the 
Angora goats of Cappadocia having the largest and most silky hair.^ 

The more recent researches of zoologists have greatly developed the 
knowledge of this genus. Listead of three only there are now recog- 
nized nine species of wild goats, which are divided into two groups based 
upon the form of the horns : 

r Capra ibex. 
Capra hisi^auica. 

1. Group with horns flat in front, having a hori- Capra pyrenaica. 

1 Bulletin de la Societe Iniperiale d' Acclimatation, t. ii., pp. 316-18. 
'^ Animal Kingdom, McMmtrie's Translation, vol. i., p. 198. 



in 


I. 


4 


2 


11 


9 


5 


1 


2 


5 


1 


9 


6 





2 





6 


6 


2 


1 


9 


9 


2 


1 


9 


9 


2 


4 


2 


2 



84 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

zontal triimgular section, and fiiriiislied witli large ^ Capra caiicasica. 
transversal knots. Capra sibirica. 

Capra Walei. 
L Capra Beden. 

2. Group wltli horns compressed and carinated in i Capra Falconeri. 
front. ( Capra iegagrns.^ 

The so-called goat of the Eocky mountains is removed by Professor 
Bakd from the genus Capra, where it was formerly placed by him under 
the designation of Capra Americana, mountain goat. He says in the 
description of ApocernH montanus, contained in his Eeport of the Zoology 
of the Pacific Eaikoad Eoutes: "The figures and descrix^tion of the skull 
and other bones of this species by Dr.Eichardson show very clearly that the 
aftinities are much more with the antelopes than with the goats or sheep. 

^ Essai sur les Chevres par M. Sacc. Bulletin supr. cit., t. iii., pp. 519, 561 ; t. iv., p. 3 
Giebel. 

Note.— The Cashmere Goat. — The only ^oat besides the Angora which is strictly lani- 
geroiis is the Cashmere or Thibetian goat, which abounds in central Asia, but whose origin 
is still obscure; although it has, according to Brandt, affinities with the Angora race. The 
size of the Cashmere goat is quite large; the horns are flattened, straight and black, and 
slightly divergent at the extremities. The ears are large, flat, and pendent. The primary 
hall", which is long, silky, and lustrous, is divided upon the back, and falls down upon the 
flanks in wavy masses. Beneath this hair there is developed in the autumn a short and 
exceedingly fine wool, from which the famous Cashmere shawls are fabricated. The enor- 
mous price of these shawls when extensively introduced into France at the commencement 
of the present centurj', as high as 10,000 or 12,000 francs, stimulated the French fabricants 
to emulate the Indian tissues. The first yarns from Cashmere wool were spun in 1815, and 
the high numbers were worth eight dollars "per pound. The peculiar Indian texture called 
'•Espouliue" was perfectly achieved ; and the success in this manufacture was hailed as the 
most brilliant triumph of the textile industry of France. Under the patronage of Monsieur, 
afterwards Charles X, in 1819 a great number of these goats were imported from Thibet, as 
many as 400 being introduced by one manufacturer. Baron Teruaux, and much enthusiasm 
was excited in their culture. Experience, however, proved that these goats yielded but little 
milk, and that the raw wool or down produced from an individual never exceeded 108 
grams, usually much less, which it was very difficult to separate from the coarse hairs, 
"yarre," and yielded not more than 25 per cent, of material which could be woven. The 
manufacturer also discovered, although they had overcome all the mechanical difficulties of 
fabrication, that the raw material, expensive as it was, formed not more than one-tenth of 
the cost of a shawl ; that the Indian weaver worked for one-fifth the wages of a French 
workman, and that the ladies of fashion would pay double price for an Indian shawl, inferior 
in color, design, and texture to the French fabric. The manufacture, which employed 4,000 
workmen in 1834, began to decline in 1840; and, although an occasional fabric may still be 
made, the manufacture has now ceased as a regular industry. The demand for the wool 
ceasing, the Cashmere goats became absorbed in the common race, and there is at present 
but a single flock of pure blood in Europe ; the one preserved is the remarkable collection of 
domestic amimals possessed by the King of Wurtemberg. There is rea.son to believe that 
the culture of the Cashmere goat will never be revived in Europe as a matter of profit, since 
a perfect substitute for the Cashmere down is found in the silky fleece of the new Mauchamps 
sheep, which is declared to be fully as brilliant and fully as soft as the product of the Cash- 
mere goat, while it costs less as a raw material, and requires less manipulation to be trans- 
formed into yarn. (Sacc, sur les Chevres. Bulletin supr. cit., t. iv., p. 48. Industrie des 
chales. Travaux de la Commission Fran9ais, p. 10. Bernoville, Industrie des laines Peign6es , 
p. 161.) 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 85 

In fact, none of tlie more modern systematic wi-iters place it in tlie genus 
Capra, or, indeed, in tlie ovine groui). The mere general resemblance, 
externally, to a goat is a matter of little consequence; indeed, its body 
is much more like that of a merino sheeiJ. The soft, silvery, under hairs 
are very different from those of a goat, as well as the jet black horns, 
which are without any ridges, and smooth and highly polished at the 
extremities."^ 

The more recent investigations have shown that the animals referred 
to, and figured by G. Cuvier and F. Cuvier as types of the Capra ccgagrus 
or Paseng, and said to occur both in Persia and on the Alps, were domes- 
tic goats which had become wild. Later researches have determined the 
true characteristic of Capra wgagrus, a species formed by Pallas from a 
cranium only, received by Gmelin from the mountains of the north of 
Persia, and have sho^vn that natiu-alists had adopted this species as the 
source of the domestic goat without resting the assertion upon any proof. 
The cftmparison by M. Brandt in 1848 of a collection of skulls and horns 
obtained by M. Tchihatcheft' in the Cappadocian Taiu-us, with the original 
cranium which served Pallas for the type of his species, has enabled that 
natm-alist, for the fli'st time, to demonstrate positively the derivation of 
our domestic goat from Capra wgagrus. M. Brandt asserts that it results 
from his labors that this species "is incontestably and exclusivelj^ the 
source of the domestic goat of Euroiie," and gives the following argu- 
ments in support of this assertion: 

1. "The Capra wgagrus has all the exterior forms and all the propor- 
tions of the domestic goat." 

2. "It resembles it very much in the general as well as local distribu- 
tion of its colors." 

3. "It approaches the domestic goat more than any other species in 
the configuration of its horns, a configuration which plays so important 
a part in the characteristics of the Avild species." 

4. "It presents the same agreement with the domestic goat in respect 
to the cranium. Finally, it is found in the moimtains of the coimtries, 
especially Mesopotamia, inhabited by the people of antiquity, (the Isra- 
elites, Assyrians, &c.,) which have fm^nished the most ancient informa- 
tion respecting the raising of the goat."^ 

The establishment of the perfect identity of the domestic goat with a 
wild species is a negative argument of much force for the exclusion from 
the same source of an animal so widely differing as the Angora goat. A 
positive argument of equal weight is the recent observation that the 
Angora goat more nearly resembles another wild species lately discov- 
ered. This species, the Capra Falconeri, is found upon all the mountains 
of Little Thibet, and upon the high mountains situated between the Indus, 
the Badukshan, and the Indo Kusch. It resembles greatly the domestic 

1 Vol. vii, p. 672. ' ^ 

■^Considerations siir la Capra fegagrns de Pallas, souche de la Chevre domestique, par. J. 
F. Brandt. Bulletin supr. cit., t. ii, p. 565. 



86 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

goat, from which it dilters principally iu its magnificent horns, which, 
near together at the base, are at first arched backwards, and then tiu-n 
in a si)iral inwards, and then over again ontwards. They are strongly 
compressed, triangular and free from knots; their internal face, at first 
plane, is ronnded higher up, whilst their external face is everywhere con- 
vex. Although there does not appear to be a development of fleece in 
this "vvild species corresponding to that of the Angora goat, M. Sacc, 
professor in the faculty of sciences at Neuchatel, who has made a special 
study of the goats, does not hesitate to declare that "all the characters 
of this species seem to indicate that it is the source of the beautiful and 
precious Angora goat, whose horns are si)irally turned like those of Fal- 
coner's goat." M. Brandt intimates that the domestication of other wild 
species than Capra ccgagrus and perhaps the Capra Falconeri had pro- 
duced the Angora goat. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, the highest authority upon 
the origin of domestic animals, refers to the oi)inions of M. Sacc and M. 
Brandt without dissent, thus: "He (M. Brandt) is led especially to see 
in the Angora goat, produced, according to Pallas, by the cross of the 
sheep with the goat, an issue of the C apr a Falconeri ; this opinion is also 
admitted by our learned confrere, M. Sacc."^ 

The hypothesis that the Angora goat is descended from Falconer's 
goat is rendered probable by the diffusion of the former around the moun- 
tains of Thibet, where Falconer's goat abounds, and even beyond the 
central plains of Asia from Armenia to Chinese Tartary, where its wool 
is manufactured, or exported in a natm-al state by the port of Shanghae. 
Angora wool, or mohair, was exhibited at the London Exhibition of 18G2 
among the Eussiau products, as proceeding from the country of the Kal- 
mucks of the Don, situated between the Black and Caspian seas. This 
species is thus seen to be diffused, although it may be sparingly, over 
the whole surface of Asia. 

That this goat is at present more abundant in the country about 
Angora in Asia Minor, near the habitat of the Capra mjagrus and dis- 
tant many thousand miles from Thibet, may seem opposed to its deriva- 
tion fi^om the Thibetian species. The learned memoir of the Eussian 
traveller, M. Tchihatcheff, ^ establishes beyond question the compara- 
tively recent introduction of the Angora goat into Asia Minor. He has 
shown that among the countries of classic antiquity there is no one which 
the ancient writers have mentioned more frequently and under more 
varied aspects than Asia Minor, because this country was not only one 
of the foci of the Greek civilization, but also the native country of a great 
number of the most celebrated winters of antiquity, such as Herodotus, 
Homer, Strabo, Dion of Halicarnassus, Galen, &c. Hence in all that 
concerns the natural history of Asia Minor, the waitings of these authors 
have an especial interest, while their silence has the value of a negative 
a^rgument. Eeferring to the writings anterior to the classic period, we 

^ Sur les origines des animaux domestiques. Bulletin siipr. cit., t. vi, p. 503. 
2 Considerations sur la chevre d' Angora. Bulletin supr. cit., t. ii, p. 411. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 87 

find in tlie most ancient and venerable of historic monuments, the Bible, 
that the goat is frequently mentioned among the domestic animals which 
constituted the riches of the first patriarchs. Yet there is nothing in 
these notices which leads us to supi^ose that they were possessed of a 
race with fine and white wool. The beautiful comparison in the Song of 
Solomon which might seem to suggest the existence of a choice race of 
these animals, " Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Mount 
Gilead," taken in connection with the verse following, " Thy teeth are 
like a flock of sheep that are shorn, which came up from the washing," 
would seem to intimate that the color was referred to by the poet as the 
point of resemblance; while the first comparison, to be flattering to youth- 
ful beauty, must imi^ly that the color was black and not white. 

Coming down to the Greek authors — Homer and Hesiod, though fre- 
quently mentioning the goat as a domestic animal, make no allusion to 
any particular race, ^lian, referring to the goats of Lycia and the prac- 
tice of shearing them like sheep, says that the wool is used for cords and 
cables. Ai)pian mentions the stuft's known under the name of KcXcxca 
from Cilicia, the ancient name of the country in which Angora is situ- 
ated, as a means of protection against projectiles ; implying that the tis- 
sues of the goats of Cilicia were not distinguished for their fineness. 
Virgil gives the wool of the goat no other destination than to serve for 
the necessities of the camp and for the use of poor sailors : 

"Usum in castrorum et miseris velaniina nautis." 

Columella, the great ^Titer on Eoman agriculture, quotes this line of 
Yirgil as applicable to the covering of goats, and while tracing the qual- 
ities which a perfect animal should possess, excludes all resemblance to 
the Angora goat by demanding that the hair should be black. Strabo, 
born in the town of Amasia, very near the present domain of the Angora 
goat, makes no mention of goats of that country distinguished for their 
fleeces, although he remarks upon the different races of fine wooled sheep 
found in many jjlaces in Asia Minor. The author whom I am following 
observes that the most careful research among the Byzantine writers, 
after the Eoman possessions became the patrimony of a barbarous people, 
has not afforded the least indication of a fine and white wooled goat. It 
was not until the year 1555 that the Angora goat was distinctly made 
known through the Father Belon, who had travelled in Asia Minor, by 
a brief but sufliciently characteristic description. The silence of the 
classic authors in respect to any goat with fine and white fleece would 
seem to place it beyond doubt that the progenitors of this animal were 
introduced into Asia Minor at a comparatively recent period, when the 
country was invaded by barbarous and pastoral races, either Turks or 
Arabs. M. Tchihatcheff observes that the Arabs have never formed 
stable estabhshments in Asia Minor, while the Turkish race is the only 
one among the modem invaders of that country which came in search 
of a permanent home and has preferred it unto this day. He shows 
that two branches of the Turkish race, the Suldjeks and the Oghus, sue- 



«0 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

cessivoly installed tlieinselves iu Asia Minor in tbe eleventh and thir- 
teenth centuries, taking possession of the precise region in which Angora 
is included, and which their descendants still occupy. Immediately pre- 
vious to their immigration they had occupied the vast plains of Khoras- 
san and Bokara, and still more anciently, according to the most cele- 
brated orientalists and geographers, the country on the southern borders 
of Siberia and the mountains of the Altai chain. It appears thus to be 
not improbable that a race of animals, originating in Central Asia, whose 
representative still exists in the Cfqyra Faleoneri, should have been car- 
ried by the migration of pastoral tribes to the region in which the,y are 
now found in the modified form of the Angora goat. This hypothesis is 
supported by the statement of the President de la Tour d'Aigues, prob- 
ably derived from the Turkish shepherds who accompanied the tlock 
introduced by him into Europe in 1787, that " there is a constant tra- 
dition that the goats of Angora did not originate in that country, but 
were derived from Central Asia." ^ 

Although the origin of the Angora goat from Falconer's goat is not 
demonstrated by proofs as positive as those which support the deriva- 
tion of the common goat from Capra mjagrus^ they are not less positive 
than those which formerly led all naturalists to attribute the paternity 
of the common goat to that species. The absolute knowledge of the 
j)rogenitor of the Angora goat is of less practical importance than the 
demonstration of a specific difference between the two races. That the 
Angora goat constitutes a particidar race, and is not due to the same 
origin as the common goat, seems established by the following consid- 
erations : 

1. There is an essential difference in the horns of the two races, those 
of the Angora race being twisted spirally, a configuration wholly want- 
ing in the common race, the form of the horns being recognized by mod- 
ern systematic writers as the basis of the classification of the family 
Cavicornia, or ruminants with horns permanent, hollow, and enclosing a 
piece of the frontal bone. 

2. The mammillary organs are hemispherical, while they are elongated 
in the common species. 

3. The very long woolly hair, hanging in corkscrew ringlets, fine, white 
and lustrous as silk, covering the short and harsh hair properly so called, 
which lies upon the skin, is in striking contrast with the short and coarser 
external hair of the common goat with its finer interior hair or doT\Ti. 

4. The cry, whoUj' different from that of the common goat, resembles 
that of sheep. 

5. The milk is more fatty ; the odor of the male less strong and disa- 
greeable. 

6. The Angora, like the common goat, is fattened as readily as the 
sheep, and the flesh is exceedingly palatable. 

7. The specific difference is finally established by the character of the 
crosses, a point to be referred to hereafter with more detail. 

^ Sacc, Essai sur les Chevres. Bulletin supr. cit., t. iv, p. 6. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 89 

The tlieory of tlie diifereiice of species in these two races is not invali- 
dated by the fertility of the prodncts of their crosses ; snch fertility hav- 
ing been observed in the mixed offspring- of the more widely separated 
species, the horse and the ass. In this case it is well established that 
the he mide can generate and the she mide prodnce, such cases occurring 
in Spain and Italy, and more frequently in the West Indies and New 
Holland. ^ 

The practical deduction to be drawn from the separation of the two 
species is thus clearly stated by M. Sacc : " There is then no utility in 
creating flocks of the Angora for crossing with the ordinary goat. We 
must limit oiu'selves to preserving the species in entire piuity and devote 
ourselves to improving the race by itself, as has been done with the justly 
celebrated merinos of Kambouillet." ^ A leading object of this paper is 
to enforce the opinion of this sagacious and practical naturalist. 

Upon the introduction of the Angora goat into France in 1787, and 
more recently in 1855, the opinion was generally entertained that the 
principal benefit to be derived from the new race would residt from the 
amelioration of the products of the common species. This opinion unfor- 
tunately i)revails in this country. It is sanctioned by all the agricultural 
notices or essays which have been published respecting the new race, and 
is naturally fostered by importers and breeders to enhance the selling 
price of bucks. 

One of the earliest papers descriptive of this species which appeared in 
this country was published in the Patent Office Agricultural Eeport for 
1857,^ it being the abstract of a report upon the Cashmere goats, as they 
were called, in the possession of Mr. Richard Peters, of Atlanta, Georgia, 
^\^?itten by the well-known naturalist. Dr. John Bachman, of Charleston, 
South Carolina. This excellent natiualist, repeating the views at that 
time entertained, says: "The varieties of goats are equally numerous and 
equally varied in different countries. They are all of one species, the 
varieties mixing and multiplying into each other ad injinitum. They all 
claim as their origin the common goat, Capra hi reus, which it is admitted 
by nearly all reliable natiu'alists derives its parentage from the wild goat, 
Capra (vgagrus, that still exists on the European Alps." After referring 
to the diversity of color, aspect, and form, seen in the goats of Hindostan, 
Chinese Tartary, and Thibet, he says: "In a word, they are all of one 
species, but under many varieties; breeds have become permanent, and 
some are infinitely more valuable than others." He gives the results of 
breeding the Angora ^ith the common goat as shown in the flocks of Mr. 
Peters in the following language: "Familiar as we have been through 
a long life with the changes produced by crosses among varieties of 
domestic animals and poultry, there is one trait in these goats which is 
more strongly developed than in any other variety that we have ever 

' Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol ii, p. 423. 
-Bull, siipr. cit., t. v., p. 571. 
« P. 56. 



90 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

knowu. We allude to the facility with which the young of the cross 
between the male of the Asiatic goat and the female of the common goat 
assume all the characteristics of the former. It is exceedingly difficult 
to change a breed that has become permanent in any of our domestic 
varieties, whether it be that of horses, cattle, sheep, or hogs, into another 
variety by aid of the male of the latter. There is a tendency to run back 
into their original varieties. Hence the objection to mixed breeds. But 
in the progeny of these Asiatic and common goats, nine-tenths of them 
exhibit the strongest tendency to adopt the characteristics of the male, 
and to elevate themselves into the higher and nobler grade, as if ashamed 
of their coarse, dingy hair, and musky aromatics, and desirous of wash- 
ing out the odorous perfume and putting on the white livery of the more 
respectable race." Speaking of the Angora goat, Mr. Israel S. Diehl, who 
has contributed a paper upon it of much research, and valuable for many 
original observations, says:^ "This goat, though described as the Capra 
Angorensis, is only an improved variety of the Capra Mrcus, or common 
domestic goat." He refers to numerous State agricidtural societies and 
scieutiflc and practical men to shoAV the A'alue of the Angora goat and its 
fleece, "and the facility with which it can be crossed and bred with the 
common goat, by which a flock can be readily raised and increased," 
adding, " almost all the progeny exhibit the strongest tendencies to the 
higher and nobler grades by assimilating themselves to the male and 
putting on the white livery of the more respectable, honored, and valued 
race." These views, widely circulated through the government agiicul- 
tural reports, have been accepted without question, and the eftbrts of 
breeders in this country have been largely wasted in vain eftbrts to pro- 
duce crosses which woidd have all the value of the pure race. 

To judge of the value and feasibility of such attempts we must bear 
distinctly in view the precise economical result to be sought for. It is 
obviously not primarilj^ to obtain a breed of goats which shall be fit for 
the butcher. ISTeither is it to secure a breed which wiU furnish a merely 
tolerable fleece which woidd be simply a substitute for the wool of the 
sheep. The object is to appropriate a race of animals which shall pro- 
duce a textile material adapted for certain defined pm^poses in the arts 
as distinct as silk, noble Saxony wool, or sea-island cotton; a material 
which is substitute for nothing else known, and has originated its own 
fabrics. The introduction of a race which fails to give this peculiar fibre 
woidd be no real acquisition, however amusing to the breeder and inter- 
esting to the physiologist the experiments in crossing might be.^ 

' Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1863, p. 216. 

2 The conviction is extending among intelligent wool growers in this country of the import- 
ance of preserving the varieties of woolly fibre, each in its own character, purity, and excel- 
lence, and free from that " mongrel type which will do for everything, but is not desirable for 
anything." At a meeting of the Ohio Wool Growers' Convention, January 7, 1867, "Mr. 
E. M. Montgomery moved that the true course in breeding sheep is to keep breeds entirely 
distinct and to endeavor to produce the best clothing of the best combing wools, which pro- 
position was unanimously agreed to." — U. S. Economist, January 25, 1868. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 91 

Laying aside the statements given in the agricultural reports, as of little 
value as testimony, because there is no matter in which even skilful 
flock breeders are so liable to be deceived as in the character and adap- 
tation of their fleeces, and because there is no evidence that the x)roducts 
of the crosses referred to have ever been subjected to the only conclusive 
test, that of sijinniug, let us consider the feasibility of producing the 
tyi)ical fleece of the Angora goat by means of crosses, by reference to 
admitted physiological principles, and the residts in analogous cases. 
The illustrious naturalist, M, de Quatrefages, who has recently discussed, 
in his lectures at the Museum d'Histoire Natiu'elle, and in the Ee\^ie des 
Deux Mondes,^ the principles which govern the formation of races, 
remarks that "there is one law in crossing which is constantly verified: 
each of the two authors tends to transmit to the products at the same 
time all its qualities good or bad." This tendency he admits is modified 
by the predominance, in one or the other, of the power of transmissibility. 
"When this power is equal in the two parents the product will have an 
equal mixtui-e of the qualities of the parents ; there will be a predomi- 
nance of the qualities of one where this power of transmissibility is 
unequal. The inequality of the power of transmissibility appears to be 
much greater when the races are nearest each other, for sometimes the 
crossing between such races gives a product which seems to belong 
entirely to one of the two."^ He observes that it follows from these prin- 
ciples that nothing coidd be more irrational than to take animals of the 
half blood as regenerators to ameliorate a race; for not possessing com- 
pletely the qualities which we seek, and having preserved a part of the 
bad which we wish to shun, they transmit a mixture of one, and besides, 
as they are necessarily of a formation more recent than the race to be 
regenerated, it will be the last one which will impress itself, if not upon 
the first, at least upon successive generations. These views are confirmed 
by the recent observations of Professor Agassiz in Brazil on the effects 
of crosses of races of men. He observes that the principal residt at which 
he has arrived from the study of the mixture of human races in the region 
of Brazil is that "races bear themselves towards each other as all distinct 
species ; that is to say, that the hybrids which spring from the crossing 
of men of diflferent races are always a mixture of the two primitive tjT)es 
and ncA^er the simple reproduction of the characters of one or the other 
progenitor." It is also remarked by the same high authority, that, " how- 
ever naturalists may differ respecting the origin of species, there is at 
least one point in which they agree, namely, that the offspring from two 
so-called different species is a being intermediate between them, showing 
the peculiar featiu'es of both parents, but resembling neither so closely as 
to be mistaken for a pure representative of the one or other." ^ 

^ Vide Revue des Deux Mondes, December 15, 1860, to April 14, 1861. 
2 Amelioration de I'espece chevaline, Bull. supr. cit., t. viii, 1861, p. 257. 
^ A Journey in Brazil, by Professor and Mrs. L. Agassiz, pp. 296 and 338. 



92 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

The views of the eiuiiieut physiologists above quoted give no support 
to the popular fallacy into which Dr. Bachman and Mr. Diehl seem to 
have fallen, that the male animal possesses the greater power of trans- 
mitting blood to his progeny. Dr. Randall, in the chapter upon the prin- 
ciples of breeding in his "Practical Shepherd," while admitting that the 
ram much oftenest gives the leading characteristics of form, attributes 
the greater jiower of the ram to the superiority of blood and superiority 
of individual vigor, as the ram is generally " higher bred" than the ewes, 
even in full blood flocks. ^ 

If it be true as a physiological principle that the parents in widely 
separated races tend equally to transmit all their qualities, what hope is 
there of obtaining a valuable lanigerous animal from the crosses of goats 
so widely separated as to belong to different species ; especially when 
the heavy coating of one is absolutely worthless, and nothing short of 
the peculiar qualities found in the other is worth seeking for ? All anal- 
ogy teaches that it is vain to expect to form a permanent race of any 
value from the crosses of such widely separated rac<?s. Dr. Eandall 
declares that "all attempts to form i^ermanent intermediate varieties 
of value by crosses between the merino and any family of the mutton 
sheep with the view of combining the special excellencies of each liave 
ended in utter failiu'e."^ The German breeders say that it is impossible 
to transform, by crossing, the common sheep into merinos. Even after 
nine generations the common type reappears as soon as the use of merino 
rams of the pure blood has ceased.^ It is for this reason that the Germans 
refuse to the highest bred grade any other designation than improved 
half breeds." 

The constant use of regenerators of pm^e blooded Angoras, if they 
could be procured, which would soon be imj)ossible, from domestic sources, 
if the system of crossing should be persisted in, would be of little avail. 
In the Asiatic goat we have a perfect standard, as in the Arabian horse. 
Mr. Youatt says of the English races of the horse descended from the 
Godolphin Arabian, or the Darley Arabian and the blood mares of Charles 
I, " where one drop of common blood has mingled with the pure stream, it 
has been immediately detected in the inferiority of form and deficiency 
of bottom."^ So, we may infer, will a drop of blood of the common goat 
detract from the lustre and fineness of fibre found in the i)ure Asiatic 
race. 

The elaborate article of Mr. Fleischman on German fine wool hus- 
bandry ^ gives the results of constantly regenerating by the pure merino 
ram, the cross from the pure merino and common countrj' sheep. At 
the fourth generation the fleece consists of 25 per cent, prima.; oO per 
cent, secunda, and 25 per cent, tertia wool. The nature of the wool is 

1 Pp. no, 111. ■* Practical Shepherd, p. 127. 

^The Practical Shepherd, p. 125. ^ Youatt on the Horse. 

sSacc. Bull, supr. cit, t, v, p. 571. epatent Office Report, 1847, p. 253. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 93 

still coarse. There are about 18,000 wool hairs in a square inch. In the 
tenth generation the line wool predominates. A fleece yields from 60 to 
70 i)er cent, prima, 20 to 25 per cent, secunda, and 10 to 15 per cent. 
tertia wool. In the twentieth generation the fleece, by regular crossing 
and careful management, has 20 per cent, electa, 50 per cent, prima, 20 
per cent, secunda, and 10 per cent, tertia wool. There will yet be some- 
times found stickel or coarse hair. At this period 27,000 wool hairs grow 
upon a square inch. Thus even at the twentieth generation, with the 
constant use of regenerators of the i)ure blood, the wool falls vshort of the 
fineness of the original or perfectly pure blooded animal, which has from 
40,000 to 48,000 wool hairs on a square inch. These facts show how slow 
is the approach to fineness of fibre even in crosses of animals descended 
from a remote though common ancestor. 

Procee«ling from analogy to direct evidence as to the results of breed- 
ing the race under consideration by means of crossing with the common 
species, no person in Europe has examined the Angora goat so thoroughly 
and for so long a period as M. de la Tour d'Aigues, in-esident of the 
Eoyal Society of Agricultiu-e of France, who, in 1787, introduced some 
hundreds of these goats into Europe under the care of TmMsh shepherds, 
and established them upon the low Alps, where they greatly prospered. 
He affirms that even after the sixteenth generation the hair of the crosses 
obtained by crossing the Angora buck with females of the common goat 
remained hair, and although it was elongated it could not be spmi.^ 
" This species is," he says, " constant ; and although they procreate with 
oiu' goats we can never hope to multiply them by crossing the races, 
because the vice of the mother is never effaced. If some indi\iduals 
approach, more or less, the race of the sire, the hair will always be shorter 
and too coarse to be worked."^ The testimony of this official head of 
the agriculture of France is of the highest value, not only because his 
position led him to seek the utmost advantage from the introduction of 
a new race, but because an elaborate memoir published by him shows 
that he had made thorough experiments in spinning and manufacturing 
the products of his fleeces, for which he gives minute directions. 

The observations of M. Brandt show that the thickness of the hair of 
the pure Angora goat is from a third to a half that of the common goat. 
This fineness of fibre is an essential spinning quality. The fibre of this 
species is always prepared and spun in the form of worsted of long wool, 
that is, the fibre is not carded or subjected to a process by which the 
fibres are placed in every possible direction in relation to each other, 
adhering hj their serratures, but are drawn out by combing so that they 
may be straight and parallel, the ends of the fibre being covered in the 
process of spinning, so that the yarns are smooth and lustrous. The 
fibres being extremely slippery they wUl not adhere in spinning unless 
they have the requisite fineness to permit many parallel fibres to be 

' Saac Bull. supr. cit., t. v, p. 570. 
^Sacc Bull, supra, cit., t. iv, p. 8. 



94 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

imited in a yam of a giveu nmnber. When the fibres are too large they 
require to be mixed with combing wool to "carry" the fibre, as it is tech- 
nically called, which diminishes the Instre of the fabric. Manufacturers 
of worsted, Avho have had large experience in spinning the moliair of 
Asia and this country, inform me that the best mohair can be spun into 
yarns of the number 42, while others are with difftculty spun into yarns 
numbered from 10 to 10. Fibre of the latter quality is of no more value 
than the most ordinary combing wool, except for a few exceptional pur- 
poses, to be hereafter referred to. Lots of so-called Angora wool, doubt- 
less the products of recent crosses, offered in the market the present 
season, could be used only for carpet filling, the lowest use of woolly fibre. 
Although the facts and reasoning given above leave no doubt upon 
my own mind that the breeding from crossings of the common goat of 
this country should be al)andoned, it is proper that I should state that 
hopes are still entertained in France of good results fi'om breeding with 
the domestic goats of that country. M. Richard, of Cantal, in a report 
made in 18G2 upon the animals deposited by the Society of Acclimatation 
at the farm of Souliard, in the Cantal, says : " Crosses produced from the 
Angora and the ordinary goats of Auvergne have given products, which 
at the second generation much resemble those of pure blood ; and if the 
society shoidd continue its experiments upon this subject, I think it will 
obtain some happj^ results. Nevertheless, to settle the opinion upon 
this point, it would be useful to study this practical question wherever 
the Angora goats have been deposited."^ The most that can be made 
of the opinion so cautiously expressed is that the system of crossing is 
still regarded in France as a i^roper subject of experiment. 

CULTURE IN THE REGION OF ANGORA. 

The culture of this species iu the country of its greatest development 
next demands attention. Am^jle information upon this ijoint is furnished 
by scientific travellers. The celebrated academician Tournefort, the 
master in botany of the illustrious Linnaius, was the first to shed full 
light upon the ancient magnificence of Ancyra, the site of the present 
Angora, mentioned by Livy among the illustrious cities of the east. He 
refers to its most ancient people as having made even the kings of Syria 
their tributaries, while its later inhabitants were the principal Galatians, 
whom the Apostle Paul honored with an epistle. He describes its monu- 
ment to Augustus, the most splendid in all Asia, upon which was 
inscribed in piu-e latin the life of the emperor, its streets abounding with 
lullars and old marbles mingled with porphyries and jaspers, its walls 
built up of ruins of architraves, bases and capitals, and its tombs cov- 
ered with Greek and Latin inscriptions, all attesting that this was one 
of the centres of the Roman civilization, and making more significant 
the silence of contemporary authors before alluded to. But more interest- 
ing than the monuments of past splendors is the mention, first given 

1 Bulletin, supr. cit., t. ix, p. 8. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 95 

with any detail by this traveller, of the contribution to modern civiliza- 
tion made by the barbarians from Central Asia. I transcribe liis lan- 
guage: 

" They breed the finest goats in the world in the chami3aign of Angora. 
They are of a dazzling white, and their hair, which is fine as silk, natur- 
ally curled in locks of eight or nine inches long, is worked up into the 
finest stuffs, especially camlet. But they do not suffer these fleeces to 
be exported from this place, because the people of the country gain their 
livelihood thereby. * * * However it be, these fine goats are to be seen 
only within four or five days' jom'uey of Angora and Beibazar. Their young 
degenerate if they are carried fiu-ther. The thread made of this goat's 
hair is sold for from four livres to 12 or 15 livres the ocque. Some is 
sold for twenty and five-and-twenty crowns the ocque, but that is only made 
up into camlet for the use of the Sultan's seraglio. The workmen of Angora 
use this thread of goat's hair without any mixture, whereas at Brussels they 
are obliged to mix thread made of wool, for what reason I know not. In 
England they use up this hair in their periwigs, but it cannot be spun. * * * 
All this country is dry and bare except the orchards. The goats eat 
nothing except the young shoots of herbs, and perhaps it is this which, 
as Brusbequis observes, contributes to the consummation of the beauty of 
their fleece, which is lost when they change their climate and pasture."^ 

Interesting statements in relation to the cultiu-e of this species at 
Angora are given by Captain ConeUy, an English traveller, in a paper 
read before the Asiatic Society, which I deem it unnecessary to repeat, 
as they are generally accessible in Mr. Southey's work on wool.^ The 
most recent information is that given by the Russian traveller before 
quoted, who devoted five years to the study of natiu^al history in Asia 
Minor, and M. Boulier (Pharmacien Aide Major) in a report of a mission 
to Asia Minor presented to the French minister of war. ^ The region 
marked out by the former of these scientific travellers, as the peculiar 
domain of the Angora goat, is situated between 39° 20' and 41° 30' north 
latitude, and between 33° 20' and 35° longitude east of Paris, a surface of 
about 2,350 metric leagues square, equivalent to about a forty-fourth part 
of the surface of the peninsula of Asia Minor, and about the same frac- 
tion of the area of France. This country is more or less mountainous 
and furrowed by deep valleys, its mean altitude bemg estimated at 1,200 
metres ; while the more elevated masses are generally shaded with fine 
forests, the plateaus, which form a large part of the country, are very 
little wooded. The absence of trees, bushes, and arborescent plants gives 
the country the aspect of immense steppes. This nudity permits the 
first heats of the spring to dry up the little humidity which the earth 

1 A Voyage into the Levant. By M. Tournefort, Chief Botanist to the French King. 

^Southey on Colonial Wools, p. 322 et seq. 

'Vide Considerations sur la chevre d'Angora, par M. P. de Tchihatcheff, Bull. supr. cit., 
t. xi, p. 305. Sur la chevre d'Angora, par M. Boulier, Pharmacien Aide Major. Bull, 
supr. cit., t. xi, p. 557. 



96 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

has acquired in winter. The climate is excessive, the winters being very 
cold, and the summers exceedingly hot. The country is covered with 
snow in winter, the rain and snow being very fre(j[uent, the thermometer 
in the neighborhood of Angora frequently descending to — 12° — 15° 
— 18° of the Centigrade thermometer, corresponding to 10.G°, 5°, and 
zero Fahrenheit. 

The cold season continues, however, only three or four months. During 
the rest of the year the temi^erature ivS very hot, particularly in the val- 
leys, while the fine days continue almost without interruption ; abundant 
pasturage is found for the white goats only after the frosts and snows, 
when the first warm rains revive the vegetation. This time is of short 
duration, and the stimulus given by a copious and succulent nourishment 
is exerted wholly in developing the fleeces in length. The shearing, 
which takes place in April, is hardly concluded when the vegetation 
called forth by the warm spring is arrested, and receives no moistiu'e 
from the dews, persons lying at night in the open air finding in the morn- 
ing no humidity upon their garments. This dryness, however, gives to 
the vegetation which floiu'ishes, the only aliment to flocks during summer, 
an aromatic character which makes it peculiarly digestible and stimu- 
lating. 

The mineralogical character of the rocks which underlie the country 
is generally feldspathic, the trachytic and serpentine rocks abounding. 
No peculiar mineralogical elements appear to be essential to the success- 
ful culture of this species, as M. Boulier observes that there is not the 
least sign of degeneracy in the fleeces of flocks grown upon calcareous 
or gypseous soils. The localization of this species in certain districts 
within the general domain assigned to it is quite remarkable, and ap- 
pears to be mainly determined by the altitude of the country, the flocks 
of the pure race being rarely distributed upon the most elevated dis- 
tricts, in the deep valleys or the neighborhood of the forests. Thi»s 
localization is doubtless encouraged by the native proprietors, who 
unanimously assert that this goat cannot be transported from the place 
where it is born to a neighboring village mthout suft'ering a deteriora- 
tion of fleece. Even the intelligent travellers above referred to seem to 
partake of this opinion. Direct observations, however, in Europe and 
elsewhere, have shown that this apparent deterioration is only the eftect 
of age, and not due to a change of place and climate or food. The finest 
fleece is found upon animals a year old, which is worth eleven francs the 
kilogram ; although somewhat less fine in the second year, it is quite 
good at the end of the fourth year, when it is Avorth six francs the kilo- 
gram. At the end of the sixth year the fleece is positively bad, and 
at this period the animals are usually killed, their natural life being only 
nine or ten years. 

All authors agree that these animals, although able to resist both 
heat and cold except immediately after shearing, when they are liable to 
be destroyed by moderate depression of temperature, cannot withstand 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 97 

much linmidity, either iu their pastures or fokls. lu a moist atmosphere 
they are especially subject to maladies of the respiratory organs, or a 
kiud of pleuro-pneumonia. In severe winters, while the common goat 
of the country is unaffected, the mortality among the goats of the piu-e 
race is frightful. This is due largely to their confinement, when the 
temperatiu-e is 15° Centigrade, in very bad stables completely closed and 
un ventilated, and to their nourishment upon fodder imperfectly allied, 
a very little barley only being given when the snow falls. The delicacy 
and lymi)hatic temperament of the white Angoras, which seem to be in- 
herent to this race, appear to be closely related to their color. Some 
physiologists see in the color and delicacy of this animal the evidence of 
an imperfect albinism. In the very interesting discussions of the Board 
of Agricidture of Massachusetts iu 18G7 many curious facts were stated, 
illustrating the relation of a white color in animals with certain diseases 
and deficiencies ; for instance, that white horses are subject to diseases 
to which black or red horses are not. Prof. Agassiz expressed the opin- 
ion that change of color iu animals must be the residt of some general 
change in the sj'^stem, and if it is not shown in the eyes it will be shown 
in something else, the light color being a kind of bleaching of those 
darker tints which are connected with the qualities of the blood, indi- 
cating a certain feebleness of the system." These views are peculiarly 
interesting when taken in connection with the facts stated by M. Boidier 
as to the manner in which the losses above referred to are repaired. 
The fact had already been stated by M. Tchihatcheff, that when the 
losses are very considerable, the people of the country repair them by 
crossing the Angora with the common goats, and that the purity of the 
race is regained in the third generation. This statement Avas regarded 
in France as conclusive as to the expediency of crossing with the com- 
mon goats of France, until the statements which foUow were published. 
jM. Boulier shows that the goats referred to as common in Asia are of 
the same species as those of the pure Angora race, from which they dif- 
fer only in their color and size. The variety which is spread everywhere 
in Asia Minor, upon all soils and at all altitudes, is the black or Kurd 
race. The variety confined to the narrow limit is the tchite race. "The 
one and the other," he says, " have long fleeces. Their general forms 
resemble each other. The black goat is only of a size about a fifth larger 
than the white goat. The weight of the fleece of the black race varies 
between three and four ocques (3 kil. 750 to 5 kil.) The hair, blat^k, 
straight, and without undulation, reaches a length of 0.27 m. * * * 
The length of the locks of the white race reach 0.25 m., and the weight 
of the best fleece two ocques (2 kil. 500.") M. Boulier cites two exam- 
ples to show that the introduction of the white female goats into the 
country where they have not previously existed is not regarded by the 
natives as the most simi^le and rapid means of acquiring the more 
precious race. " Seventy years ago, at Zchiftela Gentchibe Yallaci, the 
natives possessed no white goats. Since that period they have crossed 
7 w 



98 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

tlie black female goats of tlie village with the buck of the white race, 
and at present there are not less than eight thousand goats of the latter 
race upon the teriitory of that district. We have examined the flocks, 
and the fleeces are in no respect inferior to any of those which we have 
seen elsewhere. It is now established in respect to these new genera- 
tions that after three years of experience the newly crossed race has not 
degenerated ; it is distinctly established, since for a long time the re- 
generators are taken from the flocks themselves. At Sidi Ghazi the 
crossing by the same procedure has been commenced within only six 
years. The flocks are magnificent." The effects of the crossing in the 
successive generations are thus detailed : 

" 1. The cross of a black female goat with a Avhite buck will present a 
fleece marbled with a yellow color upon an impure white foundation. 
The flanks, the shoulders, and the head will preserve more particidarly 
the marks of the color of the mother ; the fineness of the fleece will be 
sensibly ameliorated. 

" 2. The cross of this first product with a white buck vnW cause all 
the dark tints to disappear. The fleece will become white. The 
shoulders and the flanks will be covered with wa^^ ringlets ; but the 
whole line of the back and the forehead wiU remain fiu-nished with 
coarse, straight hairs. 

"3. On coupling this new cross always with a buck of the pure race 
we shall obtain a greater fineness in the long ringlets of the flanks and 
shoulders; the dorso-lumbar portion of the vertebral column will no 
longer retain coarse hairs, which will remain still on the upper part of 
the neck and forehead. 

" 4. A fourth cross, carried on with the same precautions as before, will 
fix a stamp of purity to the product; the coarse hairs will have disap- 
peared on the forehead and neck. 

" 5. The consecutive crossings will render more stable the modifications 
ah-eady formed, and already after the fifth generation the individuals 
will be able to reproduce as if they were of the pure blood." ^ 

An infallible proof of fineness not mentioned by M. Boulier is insisted 
upon by other writers, viz., the curling of the wool, which is observed 
upon the young individuals only when they are of the pure blood, so 
that all the young bucks are rejected from the flocks with the utmost 
care, as not being of the pure race, whose wool is not curled. 

It is not to be denied that further observations are greatly to be 
desired in confirmation of the observations of M. Boidier. They are, 
however, referred to by M. Sacc as both "skilful and conscientious," 

iBuU. supr. cit., t. v, p. 1(38. The facts stated by M. Buulier may seem inconsistent 
with the views elsewhere presented in this article as to the slowness of improvement by 
crossing. The identity of species in the black and white race is not settled by this natu- 
ralist. The power of deviation within wide limits may be a characteristic of this species in 
dcmesticatiou; and these facts, to use the language of Professor Agassiz in relation to 
deviations of species, may "onlj' point out the range of flexibility in types which in their 
essence are invaiiable." (A Journey in Brazil, p. 42.) 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 99 

and are relied upon by the latter naturalist as establishing the identity 
of the species of the black Kurd and white Angora race, and they are 
quoted with approbation by M. Bemis, principal veterinary surgeon of 
the army of Africa. This identity seems confirmed by the observations 
of M. Diehl, who has personally visited Angora. "There is also a sec- 
ond or other variety of Angora or shawl- wool goat, besides those gener- 
ally described. This goat has an unchanging outer cover of long coarse 
hair, between the roots of which comes in winter an under-coat of downy 
wool that is naturally thrown off in spring or is carefidly combed out for 
use. A remarkably fine species of this breed exists throughout the area 
to which the white-haired goat is limited." 

The number of goats of the white race grown in the district of Angora 
is estimated by M. Sacc and others at 300,000, and the product in wool 
(called tiftik by the natives, and mohair in England) at 2,000,000 pounds. 
The English tables of Tiu-kish^exiiorts make the product in 1867 a little 
over 4,000,000 pounds. Formerly the wools of Angora were wholly spun 
or woven in place, and were exported in the form of yarns or camlets, of 
which the city of Angora sold, in 1844, 35,000 pieces to Europe. The 
exportation of the wool was prohibited, through the same wise policy 
which enabled England, by its monopoly of the combing- wools, to build 
up its stupendous worsted manufactiu-e. Some 1,200 looms were em- 
ployed. The natives displayed great skill in making gloves, hosiery, 
and camlets for exjjortation, and summer robes of great beauty for the 
Turkish giaudees.^ The town flourished, and the whole population was 
busy and happy in the pursuit of their beautiful industry. After the 
Greek revolution the Turkish government was tempted by British influ- 
ence to admit, free of duty, the products of European machinery, and 
to permit the export of the raw tiftik. This fatal step was the death- 
blow of the town of Angora. The whole product, with the exception of 
20,000 pounds only, still worked up at home, was exported to England. 
The looms employed were reduced from 1,200 to not more than 50; and 
the town, although having at its command the raw material for a most 
imi^ortant and characteristic manufactiu^e, offers in its sad decline another 
monument of the desolating influence of that system which would make 
the raw material of everj^ country tributary to the one great workshop 
of the world. 

RESULTS OF EXPERIIVEENTS IN ACCLIMATION IN EUROPE AND THE 

UNITED STATES. 

The attention of philanthropic agricidturists in Europe was drawn to 
this race in the last century. The first attempt to appropriate the race 
in Europe was made by the Spanish government, which imported a flock 
in 1765, which has disappeared. 'Next followed the importation of the 
President Torn' d'Aigues, who introduced some hundred ui^ou the Low 
Alps in 1787. This experiment of acclimation appears to have been 

1 Southey on Colonial Wools. 



100 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

wholly successful, as this eminent agiiculturist declares that although 
his flocks received no special care, they were constantly preserved in 
good health, and accommodated themselves as well to the climate as to 
the j)asturage. "I can attest," he says, "that nothing is easier than to 
raise and nourish the species; they are led to the pastures with the 
sheep, and are fed like them in winter." Towards the end of the last 
century Louis XVI imported a flock of Angoras to Rambouillet; but 
this, as well as the flocks of Tour d'Aigues, disappeared in consequence 
of the revolution. The best results were obtained in Spain from the 
importation of a flock of 100 in 1830 by the King of Spain. M. GraeUs 
reports that this flock was transported to the mountains of the Escm-ial, 
where, he says, "I had occasion to see them for the first time in 1848, 
that is to say, 18 years after their entry into Castile. At this time the 
flock was composed of 200 individuals, almost all white. The males had 
a magnificent fleece. The shepherds told me that all the primitive indi- 
viduals had disappeared, and that those which lived were born in the 
country, and that they could be regarded as naturalized to the climate, 
the food, and other inherent conditions of the central region of Spain. 
At Huelva there is another flock of Angora goats, comijosed of 100 
head, and from the information I have obtained it prosi)ers very well in 
the mountainous region of that province." ^ The above extract is iustruct- 
ive, as showing the slowness with which this race is multiplied, the prim- 
itive flock having tripled only in 18 years. 

In 1854, the Imperial Society of Acclimation of France resolved upon 
vigorous eftbrts to appropriate this race. In 1855 it was in possession of 
a flock of 92 head. This flock was subdivided and placed in different 
districts in France. But the success was far from encouraging. Many 
died, and those which survived gave fleeces which were far from satis- 
factory. In 1858, aU the separate flocks Avere reunited and placed at 
Souliard in the mountainous and trachytic district of the Cantal. The 
animals rapidly recovered their health, and were increased without suf- 
fering any malady. The fleeces were in an admirable condition, and 
were fabricated into velvets of such fineness and lustre that it was pro- 
nounced that "the wool of the Angora goat has been ameliorated in 
France." The increase of this flock was disastrously checked by the 
rigorous winter of 1859, and the rainy and damp summer which suc- 
ceeded. "The abundant snows of the winter," says M. Richard, "pre- 
vented on the one hand the goats fi'om issuing from their stable; the 
stabulation favored in them a predominance of the lymphatic system. 
On the other hand the showers and the incessant rains of the spring 
continued during the whole summer. The goats, always in a damp 
atmosphere, eating wet grass, contracted as well as the sheep an aque- 
ous cachexy ; a third of the animals succumbed from this malady. If 
energetic means had not been employed upon the first symptom of the 
invasion of the afl'ection which was decimating the flock, it is very prob- 

' Rapport de M. Ramen de la Sagra. Bull. supr. cit., t. i, p. 23. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 101 

able that few would have siu'vived. The malady was arrested by a touic 
and fortifying" uiedieation." The flock, reduced fi'om 92 head in 1855 to 
70 in 1862, was at the latter i3eriod in good health. ^ 

The experience in France, althougli by no means encoiu-aging in all 
respects, is instructive as indicating the principal cause of the destruction 
of the flocks, exposiu'e to a damp cUmate. The excessive climate of the 
middle and northern districts of this country, the cold winters and warm 
dry summers, woidd seem to indicate these districts as most favorable to 
the acclimation of this species. Experience has fidly confirmed what 
might have been assumed a priori. The first imjjortation was made in 
1849, by Dr. J. B. Davis, of eight Angora goats, two bucks and six females. 
The facts relative to subsequent importations and their residts are given 
in the elaborate article of Mr. Diehl, which, being readily accessible in 
the widely circulated Agricultm^al Report of 1803, 1 need only briefly refer 
to. Mr. Diehl gives the residts of his observation of most of the flocks, 
proceeding from some 300 head imported from Angora, nmnbering, 
according to him, several thousand, and scattered mainly through the 
southwestern States, as follows: 

"We liave either personally visited and examined most of the locali- 
ties and flocks (mentioned by him,) seen or obtained animals or speci- 
mens of the wool, comparing them with what we saw abroad and the 
best specimens of wool to be obtained from abroad, or the best imported 
ones, and are well satisfied and thoroughly convinced that we have suc- 
ceeded, and can continue to succeed, in raising this valuable wool-bearing 
animal, with its j)recious fleece, almost anywhere throughout our country 
where sheep will prosper, esiiecially in the higher and colder localities, 
producing an animal more hardy, with a heavy and more valuable fleece 
than the Angora or Cashmere itself in its own country. The specimens 
of wool in our possession are more silky and fleecy than the impoited or 
original ones." M. Diehl gives extracts from original communications of 
X)ractical stock raisers confirmatory of his statements. It is to be regret- 
ted that the value of these observations is diminished by the want of 
accui-ate discrimination between the products of the crosses and animals 
of piu'e blood. ^ 

' Sur les animaux de la Soci^te d'Acclimation, par M. Richard (du Cautal,) t. ix, p. 5. 

'^Of the recent importations of Ang;f>ras into this country the most consiilerable have been 
made by M. Winthrop W. Chenery, of Belmont. Massachusetts, (office 196 State street, 
Boston,) who has made arrangements for this purpose with a commercial house havinj^ a 
branch in Constantinople and a confidential agent in the district of Angora. Mr. Chenery, 
who is an experienced stock breeder, has imported about 300 animals of this race, and has at 
present 80 or 90 imported animals upon bis farm at Belmont, which are for sale. The first 
Angoras sent to California were imported by Mr. Chenery, 26 full-blooded animals having 
been introduced by him into that State. The experience of Mr. Chenery and the excellent 
condition of his flock, which I have visited, are conclusive as to the successful acclimation of 
this race in this country. The first animals under his charge were placed upon his farm by 
an agent of Dr. Peters, of Georgia, at the breaking out of the rebellion. These animals 
having beeu sheared under the direction of the agents of Dr. Peters, were immediately 
exposed to cold easterly winds, and several became affected by a pulmonary disease and died. 



102 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 



APPLICATION OF PRODUCTS. 



It lias been already stated that mobair is not a snbstitnte for wool, but 
tbat it occupies its own place in the textile fabrics. It has the aspect, 
feel and lustre of silk without its suppleness. It differs materially from 
wool in the want of the felting quality, so that the stuff's made of it have 
the fibres distinctly separated and are always brilbant. They do not 
retain the dust or spots, and are thus particularly valuable for furniture 
goods. The fibre is dyed with great facility and is the only textile fibre 
which takes equally the dyes destined for all tissues. On account of the 
stiffness of the fibre it is rarely woven alone; that is, when used for the 
filling, the warp is usually of cotton, silk, or wool, and the reverse. It 
is not desired for its softness in addition to silkiness, such qualities as 
are found in Cashmere and Mauchamp wool, but for the elasticity, lustre, 
and durability of the fibre, with sufficient fineness to enable it to be spun. 
Those who remember the fashions of 30 or 40 years ago may call to mind 
the camlets so extensively used for cloaks and other outer garments, and 
will doubtless remember that some were distinguished for their peculiar 
lustre and durability, which was generally attributed to the presence of 
silk in the tissue. These camlets were woven from mohair. Its lustre 
and durability pecuUarly fit this material for the manufacture of braids, 
buttons, and bindings, which gxeatly outwear those of silk and wool. 
The qualities of lustre and elasticity particularly fit this material for its 
chief use, the manufactiu'e of Utrecht velvets, commonly called fiu'niture 
plush, the finest qualities of which are composed principally of mohair, 
the pile being formed of mohair warps, which are cut in the same man- 
ner as silk warps in velvets. Upon passing the finger lightly over the 
surface of the best mohair plushes, the rigidity and elasticity of the fibre 
will be distinctly perceived. The fibre springs back to its original upright- 
ness when any pressure is removed. The best mohair plushes are almost 
indestructible. They have been in constant use on certain railroad cars 

Mr. Cbenery by proper precautions has since preserved his flock in perfect health. A warm 
but ventilated shelter is provided, to which the animals have access summer and winter. 
In a flock of nearly a hundred, not one has died for a year. Mr. Chenery regards these 
goats as more hardy than sheep. They are fed in the same manner as sheep, with the excep- 
tion tbat white-pine boughs are occasionally given them to brouse upon during the winter. 
They delight in rocky and bushy pastures, feeding eagerly upon barberry and raspberry 
bushes. They cannot be confined by ordinary stone walls, but are restrained by any fence 
■which they cannot climb, as they do not jump. They are herded and driven more easily than 
sheep. The doe never produces more than one kid at a birth. The young demand atten- 
tion when they are first dropped, as they are liable to chill. After they have once suckled 
there is no farther trouble. Although quite small at birth, they grow with great rapidity. 
The average product of fleece is, for bucks, seven, eight, and sometimes as high as 12 pounds. 
The does produce from three to five pounds. Mr. Chenery states in illustration of the hardi- 
ness of this race, that seven animals sent round Cape Horn were six months upon the voy- 
age, and all arrived at their destination in good health. It is stated that if there should be a 
sufiicient demand for these animals there would be no difficulty in increasing the imperta- 
tions to some thousands per year. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 103 

in the country for over 20 years without wearing out. They are now 
sought by all the best railroads in the country as the most enduring of 
all coverings, an imeonscious tribute to the remarkable qualities of this 
fibre. The manufacture of Utrecht velvets at Amiens in France con- 
sumes 500,000 pounds of mohair, which is spun in England. Ten thou- 
sand workmen were employed in weaving these goods at Amiens in 1855, 
the product being principally sent to the United States. The mohair 
plushes are made of yarns from 'No. 20 to No. 70; the tissues made of the 
former number are worth four francs per metre, and of the latter 10 francs 
lier metre, showing the importance of preserving the fineness of the fleece. 
A medium article is made extensively in Prussia, of yarns spun from an 
admixture of mohair with combing- wool, but it is wanting in the even- 
ness of surface and brilliant reflections or bloom of the French goods. 
Mohair yarn is employed largely in Paris, Nismes, Lyons, and Germany, 
for the manufactm-e of laces, which are substituted for tlie silk lace fab- 
rics of Valenciennes and Chantilly. The shawls frequently spoken of 
as made of Angora wool are of a lace texture, and do not correspond to 
the cashmere or Indian shawls. The shawls known as llama shawls are 
made of mohair. I have seen one at Stewart's wholesale establishuient 
valued at $80, weighing only 2^ ounces. Mohair is also largely consumed 
at Bradford, in England, in the fabrication of light summer dress goods. 
They are woven with warps of silk and cotton, principally the latter, and 
the development of this manufacture is due principally to the improve- 
ments in making fine cotton warps, the combination of avooI with mohair 
not being foimd advantageous. These goods are distinguished by their 
lustre and by the rigidity of the fabric. All the mohair yarns used in 
Europe are spun in England, the English having broken down by tem- 
porary reduction of prices all attemi)ts at spinning in France. Success- 
fid experiments at spinning and weaving Angora fabrics have been made 
in this country, as shown by the samples of yarn spun by Mr. Cameron, 
and the dress goods spun and woven by Mr. Fay of the Lowell Manufactur- 
ing Companj^, from Angora wool grown by Mr. Chenery, of Belmont. 

Before the demand of this material for dress goods and plushes, mohair 
was largely used in Eiu-ope and this country for lastings for fine broad- 
cloths, the lustrous surface acting as a frame in a picture to set oft" the 
goods. This use is now abandoned. Mohair is now extensively used to 
form the pile of certain styles of plushes used for ladies' cloakings, also for 
the pOe of the best fabrics styled Astrakhans. J^arrow strips of the skin 
of the Angora mth the fleece attached have been recently in fashion for 
trimmings, and great prices were obtained for a limited number of the 
pelts for this purpose. The skins with the fleeces attached will always 
bring high prices for foot rugs, on accoimt of their peculiar lustre and 
the a<lvantages they possess over those made of wool, in not being liable 
to felt. 

Nearly all the raw mohair of commerce is at present consumed by a 
very few manufactm-ers in England, who first commenced spiQning in 



104 



PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 



1835, at tlie suggestion of Mr. Southey, and soon excluded the Turkish 
yarns by the superiority and evenness of their yarns. The enormous 
works of Mr. Salt, in England, were erected in 1853, mainly for the man- 
ufacture of mohair and alpaca fabrics.^ The annual exports of mohair 
from Turkey as well as other instructive facts are given in the following 
letter, addressed to Messrs. G. W. Bond & Co., December, 18G7, by 
Bauendahl & Co., a leading wool and commercial lirm in iJ^ew York, 
obtained at my request : 

"AgTeeably with the request of your Mr. G. W. Bond, we beg here- 
with to hand you all the information we have regarding mohair or goats' 
wool. 

" Good mohair (Angora goat) is not known as an article of commerce 
anywhere but in Asia Minor. It is received from Asia Minor in bales 
varying from 150 to 200 pounds in weight, as most convenient, each 
fleece carefully rolled up and tightly x)acked. The exi^orts from Turkey 
are as follows : 



Years. 


Bales. 


Years. 


Bales. 


Years. 


Bales. 


Years. 


Bales. 


1850 


12, 884 
11,902 


1861 


16, 592 
17,706 


1863 

1864 


14,812 
19, 761 


1865 


27, 641 


18f)0 


1862 


1866 


22, 068 











"We have seen samples of goats' wool grown in South Africa and 
this country, but they had degenerated, becoming coarser and losing 
the lustre and silky appearance which gives the staple most of its value. 
It is consiuued by less than a dozen houses in Europe; in fact, one firm 
consumes about one-third of the whole supply, and has agents in Tiukey 
choosing the same. It is a very peculiar article; either everybody 
wants it, or no one will touch it. There seems to be no steadiness in 
the trade ; but the demand is seldom in abeyance for more than four 
months at a time. Large buj^ers have avoided it for some time ; there- 
fore stocks have accumidated to a considerable but not excessive extent. 

"About two years ago the price Avas up to nearly 9G cents gold, and 
fell, after long hiaction, to about 50 to 51 cents gold per poimd for super 
white Constantinople ; but even at this price there is very little demand. 
The value of second-class locky lots is always very uncertain. It forms, 
however, only a trifling portion of the exports, and will fetch about 20 
to 30 cents gold per pound. 

" Fawn, a dark gray mohair with long staple, is usually salable at 24 
cents gold to 30 cents cmrency. There is also a fair kind of brown 
mohair, but shorter and more cotted, that we think sells best in France 
at prices between 20 to 30 cents gold. The terms on which this article 
is sold in the market are cash in one month, less five per centum dis- 
count ; England, tares actual, and one pound draft, per cwt."^ 

1 Vide Jame's History of the Worsted Manufactures. 

-Since this paper was written Messrs. Bauendahl & Co., have furnished important 
n formation in a letter dated September 17, lfr68, and published in the Country Gentleman. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 105 

I have ascertained from other sources that the price of mohair in Eng- 
land of late years has been about double that of the best English comb- 
ing wools. 

KECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. 

Experience in Europe, confirmed by observations in this country, has 
demonstrated the practicability of the acclimation of this race under 
favorable conditions of the climate, without degeneracy of the fleeces. 
There are districts in this country possessing climate, temperature, and 
hygrometric conditions corresponding to those observed in Asia Minor 
and Europe as favorable to the culture of this race. The Angora goat 
and the domestic goat of Europe and this country, having descended 
from separate sources, the obtaining of good results from the crosses of 
these two races is theoretically improbable, and is demonstrated to be 
so by the best experience in Europe. The normal fibre desired for the 
textile arts is only to be found in flocks of the perfectly pure race, and 
perhaps in flocks bred back to the standard of the pure race by crosses 
of a perfectly pure buck with the black Asiatic goats of the same race. 

They say: " The recent remarkable increase in the consumption of goat wool in Europe 
has induced us to bring the subject under the notice of American wool-growers Manufac- 
turers here would use mohair largely if they could depend upon a regular supply, and, as 
we have the fact now established that, with sufficient care, goat's wool can be raised of a 
superior quality here, we think that the time has arrived when every possible effort should be 
made by our wool-growers to supply the want. The trade oifers a most extensive field and 
prospects of ample profits. 

"Mohair, as an article of commerce, is at present not grown anywhere but in Asia Minor, 
and the entire exports to England last year amount to 2,c00,000 pounds. This is quite inade- 
quate to accommodate the present demand, and the necessity of a larger supply becomes daily 
more and more manifest. We have seen samples of mohair grown in South Africa, but they 
had degenerated, becoming coarser and losing the lustre and silky appearance which give the 
staple most of its value. 

" We hear that last month large sales were made in England at about 80 cents, gold, per 
pound, and at this price consumers continue to buy freely when good staple and condition 
are assured. The stability of this price, however, is uncertain, and the value is dependent 
on the demand of the fancy trade, though this article has gained greatly in steadiness by its 
being employed in many new fabrics for upholstering purposes, laces, dress goods, &c. 

" This article we receive for sale on consignment, and our last lots realized from $1 to $1 25 
(currency) per pound, just according to quality and condition. The latter price has been 
likewise paid for a small lot forwarded to us by a breeder near Frankfort, Ky., who is also 
interested in raising full-bluud goats. We find it exceedingly difficult to place second-class 
lots; in fact, sucli are hardly salable, and their value is very uncertain. The great fault of 
goat's wool is the abundance of scurf and kemps, (dead hairs,) and the greatest attention 
should be directed towards avoiding these evils. 

"In Europe mohair is consumed by less than a dozen houses ; in fact, one firm consumes 
about one-third of the whole supply. It is important to have the mohair well and regularly 
packed in good sacks, weighing about 250 or 300 pounds, as most convenient for the trade." 

It will be observed that the practical observations of these experienced wool buyers con- 
firm the views presented in the above paper as the worthlessness of the fleeces of crossed 
goats. I have examined several pelts from South Africa, evidently from crosses of the 
Angora and common goat, in which the fine wool from the Angora was so mixed with coarse 
hairs of the common stock as to render the fleeces useless for textile purposes. 



106 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

It is desiral)le that importations should be made of the black female 
Kurd goat of Asia Minor, for crossing with the pure white bucks. There 
is evidence of great weight in favor of good results from such cases. 

Systematic measures of acclimation must always be impeded by the 
eagerness of breeders for sale to obtain merchantable residts. The 
appropiiatiou of this race is of sufficient importance to deserve the 
earnest attention of the government, as the best races of the merino 
sheep have been only secured through the persevering and disinter- 
ested efforts of governments in Europe. In the absence of any national 
society for acclimation in this country, a deficiency which ought not 
long to exist, the Department of Agriculture, under its present vigorous 
and intelligent head, offers the best means of securing the desired 
results. The cost of a single Rodman gun would secure a magnificent 
flock to serve for prolonged experiment and as a model to our agricul- 
turists. Producers cannot expect to obtain remunerating prices for their 
fleeces until the manufacture of mohair fabrics is established in this 
country. It must be years before a sufiBcient supply is grown here to 
occupy a single mill. The fleeces of over 10,000 sheep are consumed 
every week in the single establishment of the Pacific Mills. It is 
probable that there vnR be a demand for all that can be grown for some 
time, for yarns f(jr braids, and for Astrakhan cloakings, which are being 
made in Ehode Island. The demand for animals of the jjure race will 
increase without reference to the value of the fleeces. There are enough 
agricidturists of taste and wealth in this country who will readily i^ay 
large prices for these docile and beautifid animals, simply as ornaments 
lor their farms. 

I am convinced that the greatest obstacle to the permanent acquisition 
of new resources from any department of nature is exaggerated expecta- 
tions as to their value and facility of acquirement. Our impatient 
countrjanen need to be reminded that real progress is the offspring not 
only of human effort but of time, and that of acclimation especially it 
may be said : Non solum Jmmani ingenii sed temporis quoque filia est. 
There is encouragement, however, in the fact that the fruits of decades 
or centuries in older countries are matured here in years. In how brief 
a time has this vast country been stocked with all the animal wealth 
which Europe had to bestow ! How rapidly have we appropriated all 
the best ovine and bovine races of the old world! Within half a cen- 
tury we have spread the merino sheep over all the jiraiiies of the West, 
and within a less period have acquired and perfected the cattle of the 
Dui"hani shorthorn breed, and even sent them back to ameliorate the 
parent stock in England. The hope then is not vain that the precious 
race, whose slow march westward we have traced from the remote East, 
may at no distant time be fidly seciu'ed for the western world. 



APPEKDIX C. 

THE WOOL BEST ADAPTED TO VARIOUS MANUFACTURES. 

Extract from the proceedings of the convention of delegates from the National 
Association of Wool Manufacturers^ and from the several organizations of 
the ivool-growers of the United States, at Syracuse, New Yorl; Becemher 
13, 1865. 

The foiirtli subject for discussiou was then taken up, to wit, the wool 
best adapted to the various manufactures, especially that of worsted. 

The President. We should be giad to know what you do with oiu' 
wools ; what kind of wools go into what kind of fabrics. We should be 
glad of some ijractical information upon that subject. 

Mr. Hazard. The president of our association (Hon. E. B. Bigelow) 
has paid more attention to this subject, perhaps, than any other person, 
and I hope we shaU hear from him upon it. 

Mr. Blanchard. If the inquiry is with reference to worsted wools 
particularly, I think our secretary has some facts in regard to it that will 
be of interest to the wool-growers here. But, sir, in connection with that, 
if I may be indulged with the attention of the assembly for a few moments, 
I would like to express briefly some views of the different kinds of sheep, 
which, in the estimation of manufacturers, it would be desirable to raise 
in this country. 

There are diversified interests among the manufacturers. There is a 
great diversity of talent among them. One man, possessing a taste, a 
cultivated taste, if you please, for fancy articles, will enter upon the man- 
ufacture of those fabrics that are styled fancy goods, and succeed in them 
admirably, and to the entire satisfaction of himself, as well as benefit to 
the commimity. Another man, attempting to produce the same article, 
would fail in business in less than six months. I know some men who 
have spent almost a lifetime in making black doeskins, until they have 
attained a perfection in the article that is almost unsurpassed by the 
Germans. Let those same men attempt to manufacture a cheap article, 
and the probability is that they would fail to accomplish their object. 

Now, I have thought that perhaps the same lu-iuciple might apply to 
wool-gTOwers. In my experience with the wool-growers of the country, 
I have sometimes found a man who would take a Saxony flock of imported 
sheep, retain all their excellence, and continue to improve on that flock, 
until he had secured perhaps one of the best in the United States. I 
have now in my mind one man in Washington county, of whom you may 
have heard, I mean Mr. Samuel Patterson, whose flock was, if not supe- 
rior, at least fidly equal, to any other in the State of Pennsylvania. He 
had a taste for it ; and by his knowledge of the habits of Saxony sheep 



108 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

lie was enabled to cultivate tliein, and to cultivate tliem witli success. 
Other men prefer to cultivate the nieiino sheep ; and, in the application 
of their minds to that branch of sheej) cultiu"e, they have' been eminently 
successful. Another class of men, living- near large cities, who may go 
into Canada, or into some of the sections of the country where a large 
kind of sheep are grown, purchase their stock, take them to the vicinity 
of the large cities, put them upon theii- ])astures, feed them until they 
become fat, and then take them to market and sell them for mutton ; 
such men, though the wool that is upon these sheep is coarse wool, are 
successful in that branch of sheep husbandry. Hence, it seems that we 
need this diversified application of the talent of the country in the pro- 
duction of the raw material, as much as we need the diversified talent 
that exists among manufactiuers in producing the various articles we 
want. 

Now, if this is so — I make these remarks to throw the thought before 
the minds of the wool-growers — is it wise to abandon the growth of 
Saxony wool ? If I mistake not the public sentiment of the wool-growing 
community at the present time, it is that the grade of wool which is 
usually denominated merino is fine enough to meet the wants of all the 
maiiufiicturers of this country. Let me assure you that it is not so. 
Unless you do produce the Saxony wool, we, as manufacturers, will be 
forced to resort to foreign markets for a supply. There are certain fab- 
rics manufactured to-day that cannot be made without that grade of wool 
which is denominated Saxony wool, fine wool, finer than any other that 
is produced in this country, (I use the words as they are practically used 
among farmers, without specifying the difference that exists between 
them.) If you wish to-day to make a very fine broadcloth — and if the 
object we have in ^dew is carried out, that the manufacturers of this 
country are to supply the wants of the country — you must have clean, 
fine wools to do it ; such wools as the Australian, Cape of Good Hope, or 
German wools. If you don't, you cannot make the article. 

I \W11 give you an instance, to show the difficulty of getting this fine 
wool, which illustrates the point I have in view. I am engaged in the 
manufacture of ladies' shawls. The consumption of our mill, for the year, 
is about 350,000 iiounds. In the last six months. I directed the sorters, 
if they found what we term a " i)ick-lock" fleece, to lay it aside. During 
these six months they have only saved about 400 pounds of that quality. 
The next grade we use is what is ordinarily denominated the fine wool 
of this country. From that we have made an article, which, when taken 
to New York, was sold to a i)rominent importer at an advance of 33^ per 
cent, over any article of the kind ever made in this country, I beUeve, 
except, it may be, something that was made for exhibition at a fair. 

I only allude to this to show that that kind of wool must be produced 
in this country if we intend to supply the demand of this country for fine 
fabrics. If that be so, is it wise on the part of the wool-growers of this 
country to abandon the raising of fine wools ? I know you may turn on 



WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 109 

me, and say, ^' You won't pay us for it ;" but I say we will pay you for 
it, if you will sell it as cheap as we can get it from the foreign grower, 
and not without. That is plain common sense : I say we can pay you 
for it ; and I say that, if properly classified and properly presented to the 
manufacturer, you can get your j^rice for it. But you can't take your 
Saxony wool to the manufacturer of fancy cassimeres, who wants a 
medium grade of merino wool, and expect that he will pay you as much 
for it as the manufacturer of fine broadcloths, fine doeskins, and fine 
shawls. Unless you can present that wool to the manufacturer who 
wants to use it, you can never get its value. If it is sold to the passing 
buyer, who is travelling round the country, he will give perhaps a cent 
and a half a pound more for it than for ordinary wools. 

I simply call yoiu- attention to this matter that you may think upon it 
and act upon it as your judgment may dictate. I now renew my call 
upon our secretary for facts in his possession in relation to worsted wool. 

Mr. John L. Hayes, of Massachusetts. I will respond with pleasure to 
the request of the gentleman from Connecticut, and submit to the con- 
vention some considerations bearing ui)on the importance of increasing 
the production of combing or worsted wools in this country ; but, before 
addressing myself to that special subject of inquiry, I desire to call 
attention to some facts which will throw light upon the extent to which 
wool in general is used in the textile arts, and which will illustrate the 
demand in the markets of the world for this material, and the tendency 
of the age towards its increased consumption. There is no more inter- 
esting or practical question, to the producer of wool especially, than the 
inquiry whether there is a demand for his produ(;t, and whether there 
will be such an increased demand as will continue prices, and justify him 
in expending capital for increased production. 

In pursuing this inquiry, we are struck with the observation that 
natiu-e is economical in the sujoply of the raw material, or rather in the 
varieties of raw material, which are to be worked up by man. How few 
are the great natiu'al staples which make up the bidk of commercial 
commodities. But the uses of any raw material, which is found appli- 
cable in the arts, are infinite. We utterly fail to imagine the new appli- 
cations to which such raw material may be made. Every improvement 
in the arts, in chemistry or machinery, each new step in the progress of 
civilization or luxmy, increases the modes of apiilication and conse- 
quently the demand. The demand for a particular fabric or manufacture 
may cease through change of fashion, but the demand for the raw material 
never. 

The demand for wool received its most important impulse in modern 
times at about the commencement of the present century, or perhaps the 
latter jiart of the last century, from the great improvements which were 
made in cotton machinery, which were applied also to wool. The im- 
provements in the spinning jenny, the introduction of the power-loom, 
and the establishment of the factory system, multiplied the power of the 



110 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

manufaoturer to such an extent, that an unprecedented demand for 
wool be^an to arise. Then the increased use of other kindred fibres 
added also to the consumption of wool. It is a curious fact, that cotton, 
although it has always been regarded as the rival of wool, has added 
largely to its consumption. It is stated by English observers, that the 
use of cotton warps has added vastly to the extent to which wool is used 
in England. Entire factories are now engaged in the manufacture of 
cotton warp ; and it is found that, by the use of this warp with woollen 
filling, cotton, instead of being a competitor, is the most important aux- 
iliary of wool. 

I will now refer to the statistics which illustrate the progress of the 
demand for this material. The increase in the consumption of wool is 
strikingly shown by a comparison of two periods in England, no further 
apart than 30 years. The importations of wool into England 30 years 
ago were — from Germany, in round numbers, 74,000 bales ; from Spain 
and Portugal, 10,000 bales; the British colonies, 8,000 bales; sundry 
other places, 5,000 bales. Total in 1830, 98,000. 

Kow compare these imports with those of 1862 and 1864. In 1862, the 
imports from Australia were 226,000 bales; from the Cape of Good Hope, 
66,000 bales; from Germany, 29,000 bales; from Spain, 1,000 bales; 
from Portugal, 11,000 bales ; from Eussia, 40,000 bales ; fi'om the East 
Indies, 52,000 bales ; fi-om South America, 80,000 bales ; sundry other 
places, 96,000 bales. Total, 585,000 bales. Then we come to 1864, and 
we find from Australia, as against 226,000 in 1862, 302,000 bales ; as 
against 66,000 from the Cape of Good Hope in 1865, 68,000 ; as against 
80,000 from South America in 1862, 99,000. In all, in 1864, 688,336 bales. 

Comparing that with the importation only 30 years before, we have 
688,000 bales as against 98,000. Australia now supplies more than three 
times the whole amount of foreign wool consumed in England a third of 
a centiiry ago. The production of South America exceeds the whole 
consumption then. In this short period, the consumption has actually 
increased seven-fold. The production of wool in England is 250,000,000 
pounds; the imports, 184,000,000; the exports, 54,000,000; so that the 
total amount consumed in England is 380,000,000 pounds. Add to that 
the shoddy, of which 65,000,000 pounds are consumed, and we have the 
enormous total of 445,000,000 pounds of wool consumed in England 
alone. 

Kow this increase of production and consumption is not confined to 
England alone; it goes on in the same ratio in other countries. In 1801, 
France exported woollen goods of the value of 188,000,000 francs; in 
1863, 283,000,000 francs. The production of Germany, Eussia, and Aus- 
tria is increasing in the same ratio ; so that we have now, it is estimated, 
a consumption in all the world of 1,600,000,000 pounds of ^yool, aiul yet 
hundreds of millions of peoi)le, as in China, are just beginning to appre- 
ciate the value of woollen febrics. Even France has but just commenced 
to supply herself with carpets. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. Ill 

The testimony taken before the House of Lords in 1828 shows that, 
although less than 98,000 bales of wool were brought into England at 
that time, every warehouse was filled ^\dtli wool, and stocks were lying 
on hand sometimes for five or six years ; whereas, at the present time, 
as I am informed by an English gentleman of gxeat intelligence, and a 
very large dealer in wool, Mr. Bowes, the warehouses are exhausted, and 
there are no stocks on hand. The demand is fully up to the supply. 

The facts in relation to prices are not less interesting. In 1855, the 
price of English combing-fleeces was Is. l^d. In 18G4, the price of the 
same wools was 2s. M. Australian fleeces averaged in 1855 Is. 8r?., in 
1801, Is. lOd. Cape fleeces in 1855, Is. 5d.; in 1801, l,s. M. Buenos 
Ayres, fair mestizo, in 1855, 7d.; in 1801, Sd. Cordova, in 1855, 8f d.; in 
1804, U^d. 

Thus we see that the fine wools have not declined ; they have kept 
about the same ratio. 

But the question still remains. Will the demand for the fine wools, 
relatively to other kinds, continue? In considering that question, it is 
worth while to look at the production of Australia particularly, and the 
facts which show the extraordinary increase in the ratio of i)roduction 
in the Australian colonies. In 1797 three meriuo rams and five ewes 
were carried there; but so slow was the introduction of the i)roduction 
of wool into those colonies, that it was not tiU 1807, 10 years later, that 
the first bale of wool was carried from Australia to England. But the 
flocks of Australia did uot originate from that source. The development 
of fine wool husbandry in these colonies was the result of an accident. 
Some English whalers captured in the South Seas, about the begimiing 
of the present centiuy, a vessel proceeding to Peru from Spain, in which 
there were 300 merino rams and ewes. These sheep were carried to 
Australia, and originated the fine merino avooI, whose production is now 
estimated at 100,000,000 i^ounds; and are sold in special market at Lon- 
don, to which aU the manufacturers of the world resort. The production 
of fine wool of La Plata is estimated at 100,000,000 pounds ; and that of 
the Cape at 50,000,000 pounds. And when you remember that only a 
portion of Australia has been developed, and that the vast and fertile 
interior stiU remains to be opened up, who can tell what shall be the 
production in the future ? The j^ampas of the Argentine Republic offer 
even a more unbounded field for production. They present a vast 
uplifted alluvial plain, 800,000 square miles in extent, presenting an 
ocean of verdm^e, where wool-growing in the production of fine wool 
called mestiza, or inq^roved wool, is pursued with more vigor and profit 
than in any other j)art of the world,with the single drawback that the 
value of the wool is greatly impaired by burrs derived from a species of 
clover peculiar to the vegetation of the pampas. In view of the fields 
for the production of fine wool, thus rapidly expanding, which are opened 
abroad, it is well to inquire whether it may not be desirable to turn our 
attention to some other of the various kinds of wool in which the com- 
petition of foreign countries is not likely to be so formidable. 



112 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

In considering this matter, the producer of wool should not overlook 
the competition with clothing or merino wool of a material which was 
not known in manufactures until the i)resent centiuy. I refer to shoody, 
or rather that variety of shoody known in England by the name of 
numgo. The term ^'shoody/' strictly speaking, is the name ap])lied to 
fibre made from soft rags, from flannels and blankets which were first 
used in manufacture of cloth. Tlie use of this material originated at 
Bately, in England, in 1813. Mungo is the fibre obtained from hard rags 
of fine broadcloth, such as clippings from the tailors' shops. This was not 
introduced until later, and the manufacturers of Bately were quite incredu- 
lous of its being utilized. The Yorkshire man, who first conceived the 
idea of using the fibre of hard rags, obstinately readied to the objection 
that the material coidd not be introduced, "It mun go," (it must go.) It 
did go, and a new substance was introduced into the arts, and a new 
word into the English language. Of shoody and mungo 05,000,000 
pounds are consumed in England, more than our wliole clip of wool in 
1860. It is estimated that 25,000 persons are employed in converting 
shoody into cloth, and that the A^alue of the product is five or six 
million pounds sterling. The fact, however, to which I wish to call atten- 
tion is, that shoody comes in competition with fine or cloth wool only. It 
is not used in the manufacture of worsted, and does not take the ])\inte of 
combing- wools. 

When we look at the facts as to prices before gi^^en, we find that the 
English combing-fleeces were worth in 1855 only Is. l^d.; in 1861 they 
were worth 2s. 4«/.; that is, they had more than doubled in 10 years, 
while cloth- wools had just about held their own in respect to price. Eng- 
land is the only country which has dev^oted itself exclusively to the produc- 
tion of the long combing- wools required for the manufacture of worsted. 
She cannot, or does not, produce any fine wool. There are, in fact, no 
merino sheep in England. It is believed, however, that England has 
attained to the utmost production of this wool of wliich lier limited ter- 
ritory is capable. The manufacturers of Bradford are alieady alarmed, 
and have issued circulars to induce a greater supply of lustre avooIs. 
England is the only country which now produces, to any extent, the long 
combiug-wools. It is found that in Australia the combing-wools cannot 
be grown ; and they cannot be grown at the Cape. I have the authority 
of Mr. Bowes for saying that the experiment has been fully tried, and 
has signally failed; that Leicester, Cotswold, and Lincolnshire sheep 
have been repeatedly carried to Australia and the Caj)e, and every effort 
made to introduce the culture of long-woolled sheep; but it has been 
found that after a little while the wool is converted into hair, and it is 
now admitted that the long combing-wools cannot be grown in Australia 
or at the Cape. But the combing-wools can be grown in the United 
States. The fiict of the fitness of this country for the gi'owth of comb- 
ing-wools is completely established by the success which has attained 
the production of that kind of wool in Canada. The amount of comb- 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 113 

iug- wools now produced in Canada is between five and six million pounds. 
The quality, in the English market, is not regarded as by any means 
equal to their own combing- wools, because the same care is not taken in 
its production, and the English complain that the wool is full of burrs. 
In England the most extraordinary care is taken. The fields are actually 
swept, that the fleeces may receive no injury from dirt. But our worsted 
manirfactm-ers have found the Canada wools perfectly good substitutes 
for the English wools, and have paid as high as $1 40 ciu'rency for wool 
worth five years ago only 28 cents. The attempt has been made in this 
country to manufjicture alpaca goods from this long combing- wool, for 
which, by reason of its lustre, it is peculiarly fitted. There was some 
failure in the first experiment, and the manufactui'ers supposed that the 
wool was not suitable. They then sent to England, and imported 1,000 
pounds of the best combing- wool ; and, ui^on a comparison of that with 
the combing-wool of Canada, it was found that the Canadian wool was 
equal to the English in every respect. I have here some specimens of 
this fabric, which is called "alpaca" because it is an imitation of the 
fabrics made from alpaca wool. (The speaker held up the specimens to 
the view of the convention.) This stuff is made of a filling of the long- 
combing- wool of Canada with a warp of cotton. The fabric is equal in 
finish and lustre to any imported from England. 

The question is eminently worthy of the consideration of our fiirmers, 
whether the long- wool husbandry may not be profitably introduced into 
this country. This is a question upon which we, as manufacturers, pre- 
tend to give no opinion. We can only assure the farmers of the United 
States, that there is a growing demand for this material, that there ^vill 
be less comijetition in the growth of this wool than in anj" other, and that 
the ijrices are certain to be higher than for any wool which can be grown 
in this country. To determine the question of profit, it will be necessary 
that experiments upon an extensive scale be tried, and AviU be doubtless 
necessary that a system of husbandry shoidd be developed in this coun- 
try analogous to the four-field system in England, but fitted for the pecu- 
liar necessities of oui- soil and climate. I can conceive of no subject more 
worthy of the attention of the National Association of Wool-Growers, 
formed here to-day, or of the boards of agricultural colleges in the sev- 
eral States. 

It may be said that the introduction of long- wool husbandry will uiter- 
fere with that already established in this country. 1 see no force in this 
objection. It is probable that this kind of sheep husbandry can be profit- 
ably carried on only in those districts where there is a demand for mut- 
ton, and where the mutton will be as much an object as the wool. It 
seems to me, Mr. President and gentlemen, that the development of this 
species of sheep will not interfere with the branches of sheep husbandry 
which are now pursued, but will give an increased demand for the pecu- 
liar land of merino wool now being produced by the intelligent skill of 
the Vermont breeders. Dr. Loring this morning quoted some remarks 
8w 



114 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

of mine in reference to the peculiar value of the American merino fleece. 
I am convinced that the fabrics to which the coarse merino wool that 
seems to be in favor here is best adapted, have not yet been manufactured 
in this country to any extent. The class of goods to which that wool is 
peculiarly fltted are the fabrics somewhat analogous to the goods called 
"coburgs" and the goods called "merinoes" and "thibets," the soft stuff' 
goods for women's wear. Now, in that branch of manufacture, or that 
of stuff goods as distinguished from cloth goods, France employs 300,000 
persons. In this country, there were not 5,000 employed in 1860. The 
remarkable development of that branch of industry in France is attrib- 
uted to the peculiar qualities of the merino wool which the French pos- 
sess. This wool is long in staple, the sheep are of unusual size, and the 
fleeces heavy, having, in fact, the very characteristics of the American 
merino. M. Benoville, a very eminent manufacturer and a practical 
man, who has written a work on the combing- wool industry of that coun- 
try — one of the most learned works that has ever been written upon any 
branch of the practical arts — describes these fabrics in detail, and gives 
the reasons why France has obtained such eminence in their i^roduction. 
The most important reason which he gives is in these words : 

"The first fact that we ought to proclaim abroad is, that without the 
introduction of the Spanish race into our flocks, and without all the skill 
of our agricidturists, we should still vegetate in dependence upon neigh- 
boring nations, and should be reduced to clothe ourselves with their stuff's. 
It is to the admirable revolution in the raising of ovine animals that we 
owe the beautiful industry of spinning the merino combing- wools. It is 
to this that we owe the splendor of the industries of wea\4ng combing- 
wool at Paris, at Kheims, at Eoubaix, at Amiens, and St. Quentin." 

Now, I wish to enforce this position. In order that the worsted nifin- 
ufacture should be developed in this country — and by the worsted man- 
ufacture I mean the manufacture of stuff goods in their infinite variety 
for female apparel and furniture trimmings, &c., as distinguished from 
cloth goods — there must first be a supply of long combing- wool from 
sheep of the English breed. The development of the manufacture cre- 
ated by the supply of these wools will be the most certain means of cre- 
ating the demand for the long merino wools for soft stuff' goods, for which 
I have shown they are peculiarly fltted. We are as yet but in our infancy 
in our manufactures. The work before us, as wool-growers and manu- 
facturers, is to clothe all the people of the United States with our wool 
and our fabrics. We have but just commenced the work; and when a 
full supply of raw material is furnished, and grower and manufacturer 
are encouraged by a stable system of jirotection, the imagination can 
hardly conceive the gTand field which will be opened in this country in 
the industry of wool and woollens. 

Mr. George W. Bond, of Massachusetts. In my position as chair- 
man of the committee on raw materials, I have given some attention to 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 115 

this subject. Our annual import of worsted goods from Great Britain is 
about fifty million yards, besides a very large amount, of which we have 
no accurate record, from France. Those from France arc principally of 
a character for which our long merino wools are admirably well adapted. 
We need to make all the varieties of goods that we consume in this coun- 
try, of all the varieties of wool that we produce. Had I known, before I 
left home, that this question was to come up in this form, I could have 
prepared myself with an approximate statement of the quantity required 
of the different kinds of wool. In round numbers, we require some fif- 
teen million pounds of wool, in the state in which it generally comes to 
market. A little of the grade of wool such as it is unprofitable to grow 
here is grown on the plains west of the Mississippi f but tlie amount is 
trifling. The great bulk of the wool which we require is of the merino 
grade, which we use for our cassimeres, flannels, and delaines ; and I 
trust that as we increase in the development of the length of tlie staple 
of the merino, the fabrics which the secretary has referred to will soon 
be added. Experiments are being made now which I think will lead 
soon to their extensive manufacture. The other gTeat branch of manu- 
facture is that of worsted goods, of which there is a great and immensely 
increasing consumj)tion, requiring a class of wool, the value of which 
alone seems to have been increased by the advance in cotton. We have 
now no hindrance to that manufacture in this country, save a supply 
of the raw material. As has been stated, we have hitherto imported 
from three to five million pounds from Canada ; and from that supply 
we shall be cut off, if the reciprocity treaty is closed the coming spring. 
What those concerns will then do who have embarked in the manufac- 
ture I cannot foresee. We should readily and promptly consume in this 
country, I think, not less than twenty million pounds of such wools, if 
we had the supi^ly. 

Another class of wools for which we require, for our present consump- 
tion, the equivalent of ten or fifteen million i^ounds, at least, of washed 
wool — say twenty to thirty million pounds in the condition in which we 
receive it — are the finer wools, grown in South America, Australia, and 
the Cape, for the manufacture of goods requiring a close filling and supe- 
rior finish, which we have been unable to obtain hitherto from any con- 
siderable amount of wool gTown in this country. Some of the wools 
grown in Virginia have had these qualities ; and when Virginia and 
East Tennessee come to be settled by Northern men, I hope we shall, 
from that source, and possibly from some i^arts of Texas, be able to 
obtain avooIs which are adapted to these uses. Until then, we must 
depend upon foreign markets for our supply. But it is the earnest wish 
of all connected with the woollen and worsted manufacture, so far as I 
know, that the growth of these wools should be undertaken ; that exper- 
iments should be made to ascertain what part of the country is best 
adapted to them ; and that we should have a supply of our own growth. 

While I am up, I would allude to a question, the importance of which 



116 PAKIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

I have felt for a great mauy years ; tliat is, the necessity for a careful 
study, scientific and practical, of the influence of climate and soil upon 
wool. All of us here present know that they have an immense influence. 
What that influence is, has never been settled, I believe, nicely, thor- 
oughly, in this country or any other. In a country so extended as ours, 
with every variety of climate and soil, it is of more importance than it 
can be to any other nation in the world. When Professor Agassiz first 
established his museum of comparative zoology, it was a part of his plan 
to connect with that institution the study of this imj)ortant subject. 
The plan he laid out was so vast, that, in bringing it into practical order, 
he had not reached that when the war began. The war took oft" a num- 
ber of young men upon whom he depended to enter Avith him upon this 
department of science, and it has thus been delayed. But I hope, when 
he returns, he will soon be able to take it up there 5 and the Institute of 
Technology, also, hopes to devote a part of its attention to the study of 
that and other matters connected with the practical arts. 

Mr. E. G. Hazard, of Rhode Island. When I was up on a former occa- 
sion, I referred to the direct interest the wool manufacturer had in the 
ability of the wool-grower to produce his wool in the cheapest and most 
economical manner. Perhaps the wool-grower has an equal interest in 
the ability and skiU of the manufacturer to work up the raw material 
into goods of the gi-eatest i^ossible value. And upon this subject of 
worsted wools, I think the producer may find encouragement in the fact 
that the manufacturers are acquiring skill in that direction perhaps more 
rapidly than in any other. Some of them have alluded to that subject, 
and seem discouraged in regard to theu' ability to produce that kind of 
wool. But the experiments on which this opinion is founded were prob- 
ably tried when such wools were very much lower in proportion than they 
are now. There is, however, an important consideration connected with 
that; and I think it very desirable that this subject should be seen in 
all its bearings. That consideration is, that those kinds of wools are 
grown upon large sheep. Now, in this country, the mutton seems to be 
comparatively a small object. In Great Britain the mutton is the main 
object, and the wool merely an incidental production. I have no doubt 
that many of their farmers, if they should hear of our keeping sheep 
merely for their wool, woidd appear as much astonished as some of ours 
are when they hear of Eussian farmers keeping pigs for their bristles. 
That may affect the i)roduction of this kind of wool ; but, when we become 
more a mutton-eating peoiJle, it may be more judicious for us to raise 
these large sheep. 

Connected mth that subject there is a merely theoretical ^dew, which 
I should like to state, and learn from practical men how far their exi)e- 
rience bears out the theory, in regard to the size of sheep, or any other 
animal. We are all aware that the surface upon which the wool grows 
increases as the square of the linear dimensions; while the carcass, which 
has to be sustained to produce that wool, increases as the cube. For 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 117 

instance, if yon begin with the linear dimension two, the square, being 
foiu', will represent the surface upon which the wool grows ; the cube, 
which is eight, representing the carcass of the sheej), which has to be sus- 
tained. Now, if you double the linear dimensions — instead of making 
them two, make them four — you have a surface upon which the wool 
grows of sixteen ; and the cube wlU be sixty-four. In the one case it is 
as one to two ; in the other, as one to four. According to that calcida- 
tion it woidd seem that we ought to raise the greatest quantity of wool 
per acre upon smaU sheep. 



APPENDIX D. 
THE CULTURE OF LONG-WOOLLED SHEEP IN THE UNITED STATES. 

By Joseph Walworth.' 

Read before the Wool-Buyer^s Association of Michigan, June 2, 1868. 

PAcrpic Mills, Lawrence, Mass., May 27, 1868. 

Gentlemen : Your favor of the 25tli came duly to liand, and in reply 
would say that if I could I should have been glad to have been at your 
wool-buyers' convention. 

In reply to your questions on combing and delaine wools, I would say 
that the wool-growers of the country have run too much into the same 
quality of wool, viz : about three-fourths blood. Now there is a certain 
amount of this quality of wool needed ; but the markets have been 
flooded with this one kind, while medium or one-half blood and one- 
fourth blood wools are absolutely scarce. This was largely brought 
about by the introduction of the black Spanish bucks from Vermont, 
and the result has been a deal more soggy and inferior-stapled wool for 
delaine ; so that to-day both in Michigan and Ohio many sections that 
used to yield largely of delaine yield but very little, and the wool is 
not so desirable nor salable. Let the farmers learn that it is not profit- 
able, neither for them nor the manufacturers, for them to grow black- 
topped, heavy, soggy Spanish wool; but rather let them grow good 
stapled bulky fleeces, that are wool, and not 50 per cent, of worthless 
grease, and let them grow more variety of wools, and not all just about 
the same quality. There is a great demand for medium or one-half 
blood wools, and I think it will be a permanent demand. 

But as a buyer of combing and delaine wools, I wish to say a few 
words on that subject. It is a fact there are not near enough combing 
nor delaine wools grown, and I am satisfied that if we had more of such 
wools, especially of the well-bred combing wools, the business that now 
calls for them would increase very rapidly. For if we had more variety 
of wools, many kinds of goods which are not made in this country at 
present (owing to the impossibility of getting the i^ight kind of wool) 
would be manufactured here. Many persons, and especially wool-grow- 
ers, are not aware of the importance of the worsted business that call 
for these wools. 

In England the worsted business has grown wonderfully during the 
last 30 years, so that they need more of the worsted wools than they can 
glow, and they have encouraged the growth of these wools in Holland 
and some other countries. This business has also increased very rap- 
idly during the last few years both in Belgium and France. Two years 
since I was in one firm in the north of France where they combed 
3,000,000 pounds of worsted wools a year. They combed on commission 
for the spinners of the surrounding country. 

'Mr. Walworth is exclusively employed in selecting and purchasing combing wools for 
the Pacific mills, and his suggestions are of great practical value. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTUEES OF WOOL. 119 

The worsted business is comparati:vely a new business in the United 
States. In 1861 there were only three principal firms that used combing- 
and delaine wools, and altogether they did not use over 3,000,000 i)oimds 
per year, while now there are 25 firms in the States, and altogether they 
use 12,000,000 pounds per year. Besides this large increase in the busi- 
ness in this country, we import very heavily every year of worsted 
goods. Many ask me if the demand for these wools will be permanent, or 
only transient. I unhesitatingly reply that the demand will not only be 
permanent, but must continue to increase ; and any one will see that it 
must be so, when I name a few of the classes of goods made from comb- 
ing and delaine wools, viz : Delaines, bareges, stuff dress goods of all 
kinds, serge and moreens for skirts and coverings, braid, Italian cloth 
for gentlemen's coat linings and for uppers for ladies' and children's 
boots ; damask, for furniture coverings, pew coverings, and table-cloths ; 
bunting, for banners and flags •, (all the star-spangled banners in America 
and all other flags, except silk flags, are made from wool ;) reiQS and 
girths for horses, many sashes for military men, picture cord and tassels, 
warps for carpets, clouds, Eistori shawls, &c., &c. 

Where is the wool grown for these goods "? England and Ireland grow 
the most and best worsted wools. In some parts of France, in Transyl- 
vania, Hungary, and Holland — all these places grow a little combing 
wool, but they are all second-rate wools as compared with the English. 
In this country. Upper Canada is the principal place. We now begin to 
get some good wools from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maine, New York, 
and some other scattered points. 

The man who grows combing wool has less comi)etition than the man 
who groAvs the common merino wool, for England and France need all 
the combing wool grown in Europe, and they are already competing with 
us for the Canada wools ; so the man who grows these wools has no com- 
petition, and he has a permanent and growing demand for his wool, while 
the man who grows the merino three-quarter blood has to compete with 
Australia, where it pays to grow these wools at eight cents per pound, 
and where but a very few years ago they oidy raised a few thousand 
pounds of wool. But now they export to England 100,000,000 pounds per 
year, and are rapidly increasing ; they have to compete with New Zealand, 
where they grow splendid delaines wool ; they have to compete with the 
Cape of Good Hope, where they now export 50,000,000 pounds per year. 
They have to compete with Buenos Ayres and the rest of South America. 
They have also to compete with California, Texas, and the cheap lands 
and prairies of the west. The merino sheep is adapted to run in large 
flocks, and pays best where land is cheap, and where they keep sheep 
only for the wool, for they are not a good mutton sheep, and in all the 
places I have mentioned mutton is almost valueless, while in England 
and Canada they keep these sheep as much for the value and profit of 
the mutton as the wool. And owing to the great improvement in the 
breeding of sheep and cattle, they can now bring sheep to maturity in 
England much earlier than formerly, and by this means get good young 



120 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

mutton for the market. Their wool, as a consequence, has improved 
very much for worsted purposes. It is grown on younger, better bred, 
better cared-for sheep than formerly, consequently the wool of the same 
fineness will spin fiu'ther and better. Wool from old sheej), or sheep that 
are running out in breed, is brashy, and will work hairy and rough, and 
make poor goods. 

Canada wool has imjiroved fully 10 x>er cent, during the last five years. 
Kentucky has taken hold of this business in good earnest, and they are 
getting good iirices and a quick market for both their wool and mutton; 
and wherever these wools are grown in the States, they are readily sold 
at good prices. And they are the most i^rofitable wools to grow for those 
who are adapted to keep such sheep, for the fleece will weigh from four 
to six pounds of well- washed wool, and the carcass is large, weighing 
from 150 to 250 pomids each. 

These sheep are more profitable to keep than the merino. 1 extract 
from the 'New England Farmer the following: Mr. Winnie, of New 
York State, fed the last season 901 head of sheep, 180 of which were 
merinos, the balance Canada Leicesters, and they were sold for $12,049. 

To test the comparative profit of feeding the two kinds of sheep, Mr. 
Winnie set apart GO Leicesters and 61 merinos, which were weighed Feb- 
ruary 10. Tlie merinos were chosen from GOO, and they were the best of 
their kind. They were kept till March 28, or 46 days. The following is 
the result : 

Pounds. 

February 10, 60 coarse wools weighed 8, 870 

March 28, GO coarse wools weighed 9, 878 

Gain in 46 days 1, 008 

Total cost of feed, (hay, grain, oatmeal, roots, &c.,) for 46 days $174 43 

Pounds. 

February 10, 61 sheep fine wools weighed 6, 909 

March 28, 61 sheep fine wools weighed 7, 389 

Gain in 46 days 480 

Total cost of feed as above $144 78 



If the coarse wooled sheep gained 1,008 pounds at a cost of 1174 43, 
the merinos ought to have gained 836 pounds at a cost of $144 78 for 
feed — whereas they gained only 480 pounds, or little more than half in 
proportion to cost. 

As compared with live weight, the coarse wools gained 11^ per cent, 
in the 46 days, and the merinos not quite 7 per cent. 

In Brighton market, the day before Christmas in 1839, there were only 
400 sheep offered for sale, while the same day, in 1859, 5,400 sheep were 
sold in the same market. Fine woolled sheep sold from $1 50 to $4 50, 
while Leicesters sold from $11 upwards, and in 18G6, in the same market, 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 121 

Leicesters sold from |10 to $16 per liead. In Cleveland, tMs spring, I 
know one farmer who sold 24 Leicester sheep to the butcher for $12 50 
a head. 

In one market in England, in Norwich, there are sold every Saturday 
from G,000 to 8,000 hoggets or yearling sheep, and they sell from $12 50 
to $11 50 a head. These are mostly what we call half-bred — that is, 
some dark faced Down ewe, crossed by a Leicester or Cotswold ram. 
This makes better mutton than j)ure Leicester or Cotswold, the meat is 
not so fat, and the grain is finer, and the half-bred wool is valued in 
England as highly as any kind! 

Now, although it may be most j)rofltable to keep combing woolled 
sheep, yet it won't do for every one to go into it indiscriminately. Men 
who wish to have large flocks of sheep — say several thousand — or even 
a thousand in a flock, ought not to keep these sheep, but will do better 
with the merino. Men li^dng on the prairies ought not to keep them, for 
the prairies will not gTow combing wool. But I think they shoidd in 
many parts of Kentucky, Ohio, the hills of Pennsjdvania and New York, 
and in Maine, and in many parts of New England, and in best parts of 
Michigan. And in particular I would suggest to those farmers who have 
now in many of the States coarse native sheep, whose wool is common, 
and does not jield much combing or delaine, that if they would cross 
these sheep with a Leicester or Cotswold ram — I like the Leicester best — 
in one year they would receive more than 50 per cent, for their outlay, 
for their sheep would be larger, and their wool would yield probably 20 
per cent, more delaine, or combing, which sells for more and sells quicker, 
and foUow this cross up for a few years, and they might, with very little 
expense, improve the breed of all such slieej). I do not recommend them 
to buy very costly rams for common purposes. Let men who make 
breeding a business buy the fancy bucks. 

I would not recommend the farmers in the far west, or in very new 
countries, to keep these sheep, for in such places the breed is apt to run 
out, and the wool becomes brashy and hairy, and of very little value. I 
think Michigan well-adapted for delaine wools of the medium grades. 
In that branch I have always classed her next to Ohio. Any farmers 
wanting combing woolled sheep can now find them in many parts of the 
States as weU as Canada. I think Burdett Loomis, esq., of Windsor 
Locks, Connecticut, has some of the best sheep in the country, and F. 
W. Stone, esq., of Guelph, Ontario, has a great variety of sheep, and is 
a large dealer in long- woolled sheep. 

Mr. Shields, of Newark, Licking county, Ohio, has tried the experiment 
on a small scale of keeping these sheep, and has proved it a great suc- 
cess. I saw his wool, and it was equal to any wool I ever saw anywhere. 
He says it is far more profitable to raise these sheep than the merinos, 
independent of the great advantage of having so much quicker and surer 
a market for both wool and mutton. 

Yours, truly, JOSEPH WALWORTH. 

Messrs. Thomas McGraw & Co., Detroit. 



APPENDIX E. 

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The number of sets of machiueiy or series of cards — a set forming the 
unit for calculation in woollen machinery — emplojed in the United States, 
reported to the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, on the 25th 
of October, 1865, was 4,100. The estimated number in the United States, 
as all were not reported at that time, was 5,000. The distribution and 
weekly consumption of foreign and domestic wool appear in the follow- 
ing- table : 

Statement of aggregate results, obtained up to October 25, 1865, in reply to 
circulars of February 24 and May 30, 1865, addressed to ivool manu- 
facturers. 



states. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut , 

New York 

New Jersey , 

Pennsylvania : 

Philadelphia . ^ 

Remainder of the State 

Delaware 

Maryland 

West Virginia 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Michigan 

Wisconsin 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Missouri 

Kentucky 

Kansas 

California 

Oregon 

Nebraska Territory 



Total, October 25, 1865. 



40 
69 
39 

186 
61 
88 

154 
11 

24 

57 

6 

1 



w 



177 
361 
112 
1,467 
340 
452 
576 
64 

68 
90 

15 



83 
103 
47 
26 
25 
o 

43 

21 

14 

3 



4,100 



93, 835 
217, 110 

50, 217 
857, 496 
188, 775 
252, 880 
236, 510 

33, 660 

88, 200 

39, 054 

14, 050 

5,400 



32, 615 
51, 200 
23, 355 

9,660 
10, 800 

1,200 
17, 658 
16, 650 

6,600 

1,620 



4,000 



2, 252, 545 



.b B 



74, 120 
174,841 

32, 652 
560, 396 
152,967 
125, 486 
174, 536 

25, 238 

68, 650 

39, 054 

13, 050 

2,700 



32, 615 
51, 200 
23, 355 

9,660 
10, 800 

1,200 
17, 658 
16, 650 

6,600 

1,620 



4,000 



1,619,038 



19, 715 
42, 299 
17, 565 

297, 100 
35, 808 

127, 394 
61, 974 
8,422 

19, 550 



1,000 
2,700 






19f 

19J 

35 

34J 

19 

50J 

26i 

25 

22i 



50 



530 
601 
448 
585 
555 
559 
411 
526 

1,297 
434 
937 
675 



392 
497 
497 
372 
432 
600 
411 
793 
400 
540 



11 
28 
19 
74 
15 
43 
124 
7 

98 

69 

4 

o 

1 

34 

41 

13 

12 

6 

2 

6 

4 

7 

2 

1 

1 



624 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 



123 



The value of the woollen manufacture is shown in the following : 

Table sJiowing the value of woollen goods manufactured in the United States 
for tlie year ending June 30, 1864. 

[Calculated from official report of United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue.] 



States. 



a 2 



c & 



Total. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massacbusetts 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Delaware 

Maryland 

West Virginia 

Kentucky 

Missouri 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Michigan 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

Minnesota 

Kansas 

California 

Oregon 

Nebraska Territory. 

Total 



?3, 238, 

9, 044, 

3,145, 

38, 905, 

2, 963, 

11, 873, 

10, 850, 

2, 752, 

13, 022, 

548, 

450, 

58, 

117, 

72, 

1,315, 

54.5, 

341, 

118, 

104, 

102, 

8, 

14, 

538, 

128, 



098 67 

762 00 
933 67 
399 00 
154 33 

763 67 
180 00 
652 00 
447 33 
134 67 
385 33 
486 00 
534 33 
980 00 
243 00 
128 33 
907 00 
094 00 
457 67 
815 67 
696 00 
947 67 
956 00 
620 67 

45 67 



$238, 

34, 

562, 

800, 

7, 668, 

3, 913, 

2, 214, 

25, 

3, 502, 



385 00 
915 00 
788 00 
531 33 
531 67 
965 00 
802 67 
361 67 
190 00 



$897, 720 67 

261, 014 33 

78, 912 33 

912, 792 33 

70 33 

75, 076 00 



1, 526 67 

5, 267 00 

242, 370 67 

2,364 00 

85,634 67 

11, 794 33 

11,384 00 

33,754 33 

860 00 

15, 489 67 

450 00 



1, 692 67 
5, 793 33 



$3, 476, 

9, 079, 

3, 708, 

40, 603, 

10, 892, 

15, 866, 
13, 977, 

2, 778, 

16, 599, 
548, 
451, 

63, 
359, 

75, 
1, 400, 
558, 
359, 
151, 
105, 
118, 
9, 

14, 
538, 
128, 



483 67 
677 00 
721 67 
651 00 
700 33 
641 00 
775 00 
084 00 
713 33 
134 67 
912 00 
753 00 
905 00 
344 00 
877 67 
615 33 
084 33 
848 33 
317 67 
305 33 
146 00 
947 67 
956 00 
620 67 
45 67 



121, 868, 250 33 



THE PACIFIC MILLS, LAWEENCE, MASSACHUSETTS. 
Paper presented at the Paris Exposition. 

This paper is a statement written in response to a call from a jury of 
the Paris Exposition for distinct illustrations concerning "persons, estab- 
lishments, and localities, which, by a special organization or special insti- 
tutions, have developed a spirit of harmony among all those co-operating 
in the same work, and have provided for the material, moral, and intel- 
lectual weU-being of the workmen." 

"Pacific mills" is the corijorate name of a joint-stock company devoted 
to the manufacture, from the raw staples, of ladies' dress goods of cot- 



124 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

ton wholly, of worsted wholly, and of cotton and wool combined, and 
the printing and dyeing of the same. It is located in Lawrence, State 
of Massachusetts, United States of America, 26 miles from Boston. Its 
post office address is, " Pacific MiUs, Lawrence, Massachusetts, United 
States of America." 

J. Wiley Edmands, Boston, is the treasiu-er of the company, and Wm. 
C. Chapin, of Lawrence, the local agent or manager. The management 
is confided by about 150 stockholders to nine directors, chosen annually. 

The original number of shares of the company was 1,000, costing 
$1,000, or 5,000 francs, each, making a total capital of $1,000,000, or 
5,000,000 francs. The cost of the buildings and machinery having ex- 
ceeded this sum, 1,500 shares more, at same cost, were issued, making 
the total number of shares to be 2,500, and the cost of the capital 
$2,500,000, or 12,500,000 francs. 

They commenced operations near the close of the year 1853, but no 
goods were ready for market until the spring of 1854. The amount of 
machinery then consisted of 1,000 looms, with carding, spinning, and 
di-essing machinery sufficient to supply them, together with combing 
machines and spinning for worsted yarn, used in the manufacture of 
mixed fabrics, and was equal to the production of about 200,000 yards 
weekly of calicoes and moussehne de laines, with 10 printing machines 
for preparing these goods for market. 

The buildings and machinery have been since increased, so that there 
are now in operation about 100,000 spindles for spinning cotton, T\ith 
cleaning, picking, and carding machines to supi^ly them, and about 
16,000 spindles for worsted, with aU the necessary preparing machines 
to occupy 3,500 looms for wea^dng the two classes of goods above named 
and others, together with 18 printing machines, producing a weekly aver- 
age of about 700,000 yards. The machinery is propelled bj^ eight tur- 
bine wheels, six of them being 72 inches in diameter, and two 84 inches in 
diameter, with a fall of water equal to 20 feet, yielding 1,500 horse-power. 

The average sale of the manufactured goods of the company for a few 
years past exceeded $7,500,000, or 37,500,000 francs. About 3,600 work- 
people are now employed by the company. Of these there are 1,680 
men, 1,510 women, 80 boys between 10 and 12 years, 140 boys from 12 
to 18 years, 40 girls from 10 to 12 years, and 150 girls from 12 to 18 
years. 

In the origin of the establishment the principle was adopted by the 
managers that there was to be a mutual dependence between employers 
and employed, each having rights which the other should respect, and 
that, inasmuch as the success of the proprietors must depend much upon 
the cheerfid and intelligent co-operation of the work-people, certain 
plans were adopted to secui-e "the material, moral, and intellectual wel- 
fare of the workmen," both as a duty to them and one of self-iaterest to 
the proprietors. 



WOOL, AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 125 

MATERIAL WELFARE OF WORKMEN. 

For the material well-being of tlie laborers, special care was used iu 
the original construction of the workrooms to make them cheerful, com- 
fortable, and well ventilated, so as to avoid, as far as possible, the 
unpleasant drudgery of work, ai?d to seciu^e order and neatness through- 
out. Houses were constructed for dwellings which should give to fam- 
ilies residences at moderate cost of rent, that would secure the health 
and comfort of the work-people, while they were cheerful and attractive. 
Men i)ay for these houses a weekly rent about equal to one-eighth of 
their wages. Large buildings were erected for the use of single females 
whose residences were at a distance, and divided into 17 large ax)art- 
ments, capable of accommodating 825 persons in the aggregate. The 
rooms are arranged for two persons each, well ventilated and lighted, 
and comfortably furnished. Unmarried men are never allowed to lodge 
in these houses, nor in any case a married man, except he is accompanied 
by his wife, and then but rarely. Females pay about one-thkd of their 
average wages for rooms in these boarding-houses, iucludmg food, lights, 
and washing. Fuel for fires in their rooms is an extra expense. It is 
common to provide coal, and sometimes floiu-, to the work-j)eoi)le at the 
cost^jrice of large quantities. 

Another effort for the material welfare of the operatives was adopted 
in the earliest history of the enterprise, and has been continued for 
nearly 13 years, with marked success, doing much to promote "harmony 
among aU those co-operating," and to establish a bond of sympathy and 
union. 

An association was formed, called '^ Pacific Mills Belief Society," of 
which each person emj)loyed by the company must be a member, the 
entire management thereof being in the hands of the work-people, each 
ofl&cer being chosen by themselves from their own number, excepting 
the president, which office has always been filled by the resident agent 
or manager, who rarely acts, however, except as counsellor or umpire. 

Each person on commencing service elects whether he shall pay two, 
four, or six cents per week to the relief fund, the lower sum being a lit- 
tle more than j^th part of the weekly average wages of those who are 
the youngest, and consequently least i^aid, and the highest sum, six cents 
weekly, bearing the same proportion to the average weekly wages of the 
entire body of work-people. When the sum in the hands of the treas- 
urer of the society, who is always the confidential clerk of the company, 
and keeps the deposit with the com^^any for protection, has reached the 
sum of $1,000, the weekly subscription of all persons who have been 
employed by the company three months ceases, while it continues with 
the new comers. 

This condition of funds occurs so often that for nearly one-half of the 
time the older emjjloyes are not assessed, and the real sum withdi'aA\Ti 
from their wages annually is a very smaU i)roportion of their wages, and 
is far from being a burden to the poorest. 



126 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

When a person has been in the employ of the company three months, 
and, conseqnently, for that time paid his elected sum to the funds of the 
relief society, he becomes a full member of that society, and entitled to 
certain privileges. If sickness occurs, preventing him from labor, and 
he sends notice to the overseer, or head workman of his room, one of 
the appointed stewards is sent to learn the nature of the illness, and 
the sick one becomes the special charge of this steward, who, for a man, 
is one of his own sex, or, if a female, a woman, and it is this steward's 
duty to see that a nurse and physician are secured, if necessary, and to 
draw from the wardrobe of the society such changes of personal and 
bed linen as the circumstances demand. 

Each sick person, if the illness continues one week, is thenceforward 
granted an allowance from the funds of the society. He who has j)aid 
two cents x>er week for at least three months receives $1 25 weekly for 
the period of 26 weeks, if sick so long. Double this sum is allowed if 
four cents have been paid, and $3 75 when the amount paid has been 
six cents weekly. In cases of special need the officers of the society are 
authorized to make an extra allowance, though great care is used in 
such a dispensation. Those who die poor have their funeral expenses 
paid, and are respectably buried in the beautiful lot in the city cemetery 
belonging to the society. In some cases the deceased has been sent to 
his native town by the desire of his friends, without cost to them, if they 
were poor. 

Sick members are often accompanied to their friends by a steward, or 
the overseer of their work-room, when too feeble to go alone, or the 
ft-iends too poor to come for them. The blessings of this society are 
thus made known to parties at a distance, and it often induced persons 
of excellent character to seek employment of this company, while those 
who have secured the benefits of the relief society retain it in warm 
remembrance. More than one poor mother, whose only child, while a 
member of this society, has been disabled by sickness, has found the 
weekly allowance an invaluable aid to her slight income, and called 
loudly for blessings upon its officers and the institution with such a 
work of merciful kindness. Many a father and mother, or other relative, 
whose child or friend has been sent to this company, have besought the 
blessings of Heaven upon the members of this society, who have cared 
for their absent ones in the time of sickness, and soothed them as they 
have faded away from life. 

Though there is not space for details of great interest, it must be seen 
that this plan has a direct tendency to promote sympathy for each other 
among the work-people, and to secure a bond of union. Most surely 
those who daily observe its workings see it. 

It wiU also be noticed that a very important feature of this plan is 
that it is an association of the work-people themselves, wholly controlled 
by them, and consequently sure of permanency while favored to its pres- 
ent extent by the employers. This is likely to continue, because they 
witness its important influence and usefulness. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 127 

The total amount of money expended for the benefit of sick members 
in 12 years of its existence, ending in April, 18G6, has been $25,530 68, 
or 127,053 francs, to 1,868 persons, and the amount paid to the fund in 
the same time has exceeded this sum about $1,200. The corporation 
contributes weekly to this fund, and also to meet individual cases which 
are specially aggravated. 

MORAL WELFARE OF WORKMEN. 

To meet the protection of the large number of single females em- 
ployed by the company, who, as is often the fact in the manufactiuing 
establishments of the United States, and perhaps elsewhere, are away 
from the gmardianship of their friends, the boarding-houses referred to 
above are controlled by persons carefully selected for their ability to 
influence this class of work-people, and for their established good char- 
acter, who will take an interest to secm^e the comfort of then- boarders, 
and save them from bad moral influences, acting really, as far as pos- 
sible, in the place of guardians. If a young female is known to visit 
places of evening fimusement of doubtful character, or gives any reason 
for suspicion that she is guilty of immorality, or even of careless, un- 
guarded conduct, she is admonished, and if reform is not immediate she 
is discharged from the house and from employment. The doors of the 
house are locked at 10 o'clock at night, and no one allowed to be out 
after that hour without a satisfactory excuse. Doubtless persons of 
immoral character secure employment by the comjiany, and by superior 
secresy retain this connection. Among so large a number some will be 
impiu-e, but it is believed that very few of these females are led astray 
whUe connected with the mill, if virtuous when commencing work. It 
is imi^ossible for an openly vile person to retain connection with the 
company. 

Men of intemperate habits, or of general bad character, are excluded 
from the company's ser\ice, though patience with them is encouraged, 
with the hope of securmg reform ; and this forbearance, and attendant 
labor, has often been rewarded. It is an estabhshed principle that all 
profanity or other bad language, and any bad example or severe use of 
authority among the head workmen, must be strictly avoided, especially 
when these overseers have in their charge females or young persons. 
More than one such respouvsible workman has been removed for using 
imjiroper words or ill-treating his subordinates. It is absolutely demanded 
of these persons that they treat those under them as they would desire 
to be treated themselves if in their position. 

The directors have placed their associate, the manager, at the works 
to represent their feelings to the work-people ; to show them sympathy 
in their trials, to counsel them in their need of advice, and to be their 
friend. 

Careful eftbrts have been made by him to secure their confidence, and 
he has cultivated the conviction that they could ever find in him a father, 



128 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

brother, or friend. Many hearts have been moved to earnest giatitude 
for the aid which they have thns secured in their time of need. It requires 
a vast amount of patient listening to comi)laints, to tales of sorrow and 
want 5 but it has had its reward in seeing so many relieved, made glad 
and hopefid. 

The real moral effect, and the real satisfaction in such a relation 
between employer and employed, cannot be written. The spirit of the 
employer is imparted to the more responsible and influential workmen, 
and to those under them, while a healthy moral condition is seciu-ed. 

INTELLECTUAL AVELFAEE OF WORKMEN. 

When the company was first estabhshed the directors appropriated 
$1,000, or 5,000 francs, for the purchase of suitable books for a circu- 
lating library, and provided a suitable room for it on their premises. 
The work-people have always been requii'ed to pay one cent each week 
during their service, and they thus become members of the "Pacific 
MOls Library Association," which is managed enth-ely by themselves, 
they choosing their own officers for the control of its affairs and for the 
selection of books, but selecting the resident manager for the president 
and chairman of the library committee. This weekly payment secures 
the privilege of the use of the library and reading-rooms of the society. 
One room is ai^propriated to males, and is suxDplied ^ith the local news- 
papers of the city, and of Boston and New York, together with numer- 
ous serials of a scientific and literary character, and is open from 6 
o'clock a. m. till 9 o'clock p. m., warmed and lighted. It is in close 
proximity to the other room containing the library, now exceeding 4,000 
volumes, and also a cheerful, aiiy, comfortable apartment for the females, 
which is carx^eted, and made attractive by daily and weeklj" ijublications 
especiall;^" adapted to their w^ants, and stereoscopes with numerous slides, 
all in charge of an intelligent and cultivated young lady. It is open 
from 9 o'clock a. m. till 9 o'clock p. m., and is much frequented and 
valued. 

A large number of volumes of the library are in constant circulation, as 
the number of the work-people who cannot read or write does not exceed 
50 in 1,000, and these are universally of foreign bkth. All new publi- 
cations adapted to this class of readers are bought as soon as pubUshed. 
The privilege of taking books from the library is extended to members 
of famiUes whose head is a member of the association. The funds of 
the society are -also used to purchase tickets of admission to lectures 
and suitable popidar amusements, which are distributed among the 
members. 

This association, as weU as the relief society, it will be seen, is sup- 
ported and managed by the work-people themselves, who secure a valu- 
able retiu-n for their small outlay, and also the permanencj" of its opera- 
tion, avoiding the dependence for existence and usefidness upon the life, 
or even connection, of any one person of special prominence. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 129 

A law of the State forbids the employment of childreu under 10 years, 
and requires that chddren employed between 10 and 12 years of age 
shall be in school 16 weeks in each year, and those between 12 and 16 
years 11 weeks. The company contributes annually to the support of 
an evening school for both sexes. 

SUCCESS OF THIS CO-OPEEATIVE OEGANIZATION. 

It has often been stated that care of emj)loyers for the elevation and 
welfare of their operatives, especially to the extent herein shown, is 
incompatible with pecuniary success. Facts prove that this is not true 
with the Pacific mills, but others must determine how much of this is 
due to the principles of action established and maintained. 

It is also believed that the work-people have received great benefit. 

Some of the evidences of this are the following: 

1. There have been no strikes among the work-people, which are their 
curse, and the dread of employers. They have been encouraged to feel 
that any grievances will be patiently Listened to, and frankly discussed, 
and the result has always been favorable to good order. 

By no means has every uneasy spirit been quieted, but the mass has 
beeu satisfied. 

2. A higher class of workmen has been secured. Those best able to 
appreciate the pri^dleges enjoyed in connection with this company have 
been drawn thither for employment. Specially is this true among the 
overseers, who engage the laborers in their different departments, and 
give character to the mass. Their intelligence and hearty co-operation 
in the plans for the material, moral, and inteUectual advancement of the 
oiJeratives, moulds the whole, and secures a higher standard. The gen- 
eral influence of the principles adopted by the company leads these prom- 
inent workmen to feel that they are intrusted with a degree of guardian- 
ship of those under them, and this feeling is very manifest. Respect for 
the manhood of a workman moulds him. 

3. Many of the work-people have invested their fimds in savings banks, 
and this is specially encouraged. Formerly the company received deposits 
themselves from the work-people, allowing an annual interest of six per- 
cent. ; but for some prudeutial reasons this plan was abandoned, and the 
depositors encoiu-aged to invest in chartered banks. The company held 
in their hands at one time more than $100,000, or 500,000 francs, of the 
earnings of their work-people, which has been changed into other channels. 
There is no doubt that their deposits now exceed this sum largely. 

4. Quite a number of the work-people own houses free of debt, while 
others have been partially assisted by the company, it reserving a portion 
of their wages each month in reduction of the debt. More than $50,000, 
or 250,000 francs, are thus invested. 

5. Others invest their funds in the bonds of the United States govern- 
ment in j)reference to sa\4ngs banks. 

6. Several of the workmen are owners of the stock of the company, and 

9 w 



130 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

have tlie same rights in regard to the control of the otficers and general 
management as other stockholders. Their stock has now a market value 
exceeding $00,000. 

7. Investment of earnings in premiums on life insurance has been made 
by many of the workmen. 

8. More than one of the workmen has been a member of the city gov- 
ernment in its board of aldermen and common council, and not an annual 
election passed Avithout the choice of one, or more, to some of these 
important offices. 

9. The pecuniary success of the company has warranted a liberal spirit 
in the payment of wages to the work-people. The least sum now paid in 
weekly wages to the youngest employe is $1 82, gold, a little more than 
9 fi*ancs, and the number belonging to this class is very small. Boys of 
16 years do not receive less than $2 85, gold, weekly, or more than 14 
francs. 

The least amount paid weekly to men is $6 75, gold, or nearly 34 francs, 
while a very large majority receive much more. Females receive from 
$2 48, gold, weekly, or about 12.50 francs for the least, to $6 72, gold, or 
more than 33 francs ; while a few earn more. This excepts young girls, 
whose wages are the same as the least sum named above. Spinners, 
weavers, and a few others are paid in accordance with their product, 
some of them earning very large wages. 

The stockholders, as previously stated, have invested $2,500,000 in the 
company. During the past 12 years they have received in dividends 
more than $3,000,000, and the fixed property has cost a much larger sum 
than the amount of the capital stock. The treasurer fnrthermore holds 
in his possession a very large amount of undivided earnings with which 
to purchase cotton, avooI, and other materials, for cash. 



APPENDIX F. 

THE WOOLLE^^ AND WORSTED TRADE OF GREAT BRrrAIN. 

DescHptio)i and statist les from the third report of the commissioners ap- 
pointed to inquire into the best means of preventing thepoUution of rivers, 
f rivers Aire and Calder,) presented to both houses of Parliament by com- 
mand of her Majesty, 1807. 

A glance at table D of the interesting and valuable returns (page 
134) will inform the reader that woollen and worsted j)roducts to the 
extent of 381,200,000 pounds in weight, and of a value of £64,400,000 
sterling, are annually sent out of the mills of Great Britain. 

The West Riding of Yorkshire is not the only district in which this 
vast industry is located, but it may safely be taken that from one-half 
to two-thirds of the woollen and worsted trade is carried on there. 

This trade is of ancient date in England. The Romans had weaving 
establishments of woollen cloth at Winchester, where the copious springs 
from chalk afforded means both for power and for washing and dyeing. 
The mother of Alfred the Great is recorded to have been skilled in spin- 
ning wool. Flemish woollen weavers settled in England about the time 
of the Norman conquest, and continued immigration of woollen weavers 
from Flanders took place in the reigns of Henry I, Henry III, Edward 
I, and Edward III. The woollen tissues first spun and woven at Worsted 
in Norfolk, about the year 1388, became the staple trade of Norwich. 
Devonshire manufactured woollens soon after the introduction of the 
trade into England, and Worcestershire a little later. Friezes were also 
early manufactiu-ed in Wales. In the middle of the sixteenth century 
Berkshire took the lead in woollen manufacture. 

About the middle of the last century the West Riding of Yorkshire 
became the seat of the worsted and woollen trades. Halifax began to 
be specially noted for kerseys. From about this date these trades find- 
ing so much water available, not only for power, but also for washing, 
dyeing, scouring, fulling, and all other purposes, the Yorkshire manu- 
facturers and traders were enabled to undersell those of other places. 

The rivers Aire and Calder were made navigable by act of Parliament 
about the year 1698, and have from time to time been improved so as to 
meet and supply the requirements of a growing trade. This navigation 
has such advantages and has been so ably managed up to this date that 
it successfully comjietes with the established railways. 

It is of the utmost importance to study the rise, progress and con- 
dition of any manufacture, especially if it has changed its locality. Suc- 
cessful trade is generally contingent upon local imtural advantages 
which forethought and care may improve, or which continued abuse may 
deteriorate and even ultimately destroy. The West Riding of York- 



132 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

sliire, and especially the Aire Jiiid Calder district, possesses many natu- 
ral advantages favorable to the establishment and conduct of trades 
requiring good water. A range of mountains conii>os('d ]»rincipally of 
scar, limestone, and Yoredale rocks, capped with millstone grit, forms 
the western boundary, and sends down numerous spring-fed rivulets and 
streams to wind and flow over the entire breadth of this portion of the 
county. The graduated fall afi'ords means of obtaining water power, 
and the nimierous valleys offer favorable sites for storage reservoirs. 
The vast numbers of mills and dye works (upwards of 5,000) established 
since the commencement of the present century, and the iai)id growth 
of the worsted and woollen trades of the West Riding, clearly indicate 
that the natural advantages of this part of Yorkshire are great. There 
are not only spring and river water, but there is also cheap fuel obtained 
from the local coal field, enabling the manufacturers to supx)lement water 
power with steam, and in numerous instances to obtain all the power 
required from steam alone. Abuses in the district by throwing solids 
into running waters and by pollution have, however, become in some 
cases destructive to trade, and in numerous cases prohibitive to further 
extensions, some branches of trade having migrated to Scotland, where 
water less polluted is obtainable. 

The various processes to which water is put in cleansing wool and in 
manufacturing woollens and worsteds, may be stated as follows : 

1. Scoiu-ing the wool with a ley and hot water to remove grease and 
dirt. 

2. Washing with clean cold water. 

3. Dyeing when the cloth is to be wool-dyed. 

4. Scouring cloth with fuller's earth to remove oil and size. 

5. Dyeing when piece-dyed. 

6. Milling or fulling with soap and warm water, either in the fidling 
. stocks or in the improved milling machines, where the cloth is squeezed 

between rollers. 

7. Scoimng to remove the soap. 

8. Boiling cloth to give it a permanent face. 

9. Steaming to take away the liability of the finished cloth to spot. 
Dirty water may be used for power, but even for such purpose it is a 

nuisance, and for washing and dyeing water may be so polluted as to be 
injiu'ious even to dark and coarse goods, and totally unfitted for cleans- 
ing and dyeing fine fabrics. 

The vast interests involved in the wool, woollen, and worsted trades 
of Great Britain are set forth in the following statistical tables kindly 
furnished to the commission by Mr. Jacob Behrens, vice-president of 
the Chamber of Commerce of Bradford. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 



133 



Table A. — Estimate of tlie iwoduce of wool in the United Kingdom from 
25,795,708 sheep, based upon a return made for Great Britain on the 5th 
of March, 1866, and for Ireland in 1865. 



In England 4,505,345 



Number of Bheep. 



Under one 
year old. 



In Wales 

In Scotland 

In Ireland 

Isle of Man and Channel islands. 



380, 854 

1, 624, 638 

1,048,491 

24, 410 



Total 7,583,817 



Under one year old hoggets . . . 

Lambs killed and clipped 

Lambs killed and not clipped . 



Total - 




One year old 
and above. 



10, 620, 196 

1,287,809 

3, 630, 439 

2,640,251 

33, 196 



18, 211, 891 



Weight per 
fleece. 



Pounds. 

si 



Wool pro- 
duced. 



Pounds. 
69, 031, 274 

7, 082, 250 

23, 597, 853 

1.5,841,506 

215, 774 



33, 503, 293 
3, 000, 000 



152, 272, 650 



Mem. — The number of sheep in Ireland under one year old is supposed to bear the same proportion to the 
whole number as that given in the return for Great Britain. 

Table B. — Estimate of the quantity and value of wool and similar 
material worked up in worsted and woollens. 



Articles. 



English wool 

Foreign wool 

Goats' hair or wool. 
Home-made shoddy 
Imported shoddy . . . 

Wool extracts 

Foreign yarn 

Total 



Produce and 
imports. 



152, 272, 650 
206, 473, 045 

4, 737, 330 
52, 000, 000 
22, 482, 880 

5, UOO, 000 
4, 479, 984 



447, 445, 889 



Exports. 



7, 320, 299 
55, 993, 803 



63, 254, 102 



Retained 
for home con- 
sumption. 



144, 952, 351 
150, 539, 242 

4, 737, 330 
52, 000, 000 
22, 482, 880 

5, 000, 000 
4, 479, 984 



Price per 
pound. 



S, s. d. 

2 4i 

1 6i 

2 8i 

5 

4i 

6 

4 6 



Value. 



£17,213,075 

11, 123, 905 

650, 191 

1, <;83, 334 

494,611 

125, 000 

1, 008, 004 



384, 191, 787 



31, 698, 120 



Mem. — Imports, exports, and values from Board of Trade tables for 1864, except quantity of English 
wool, for which see A. 

Table C. — The exports of tcools, tissues, and yarns, and the quantity of 
foreign icool tcorJced up in the years 1844, 1854, and 1864. 



Description. 



Exports of English wools 

Exports of worsted yarns 

Exports of wool tissues 

Exports of British produce 

Foreign wool retained for home consumption lbs. . 



£535, 134 

958, 217 

8, 204, 836 

50, 642, 306 

63, 741, 087 



£734, 490 

1, 557, 459 

9, 121, 186 

97, 092, 308 

81,654,711 



£67.3, 446 

5, 417, 377 

18, 533, 4.57 

160, 449. 053 

155, 276, 572 



134 



PAEIS -UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 



Comparative ][)ercentage of the exports of ivorsted and woollen manufactures 
to the other textile fabrics in 1864. 



Description. 



Exports of worsteds 

Exports of woollens 

Exports of cottons 

Exports of linen and jute 
Exports of silks 



£16, 217, 898 

7, 732, 976 

54, 882, 329 

11,636,049 

2, 274, 927 



■*8i 

59 

12i 



Total. 



£92, 744, 179 



Total exports of British produce £160,449,053 



Six per cent. 



Table D. — Estimate of the value and weight of wool and similar material 
manufactured into worsted and woollen yarns and tissues in the United 
Kingdom, 1SG4. 



Description. 



Value. 



English wool, exported as yarns 

English wool, manufactured into tissues, 4s 

Foreign wool, manufactured into tissues, 3s 

Mohair wool, manufactured into tissues, 5s 

Foreign yarn, manufactured into tissues, 8s 

Shoddy and extracts, manufactured into tissues, Is. 
Cotton, yarn, and other material 



35, 000, 000 £5, 500, 000 



110, 000, 000 

150, 500, 000 

4, 700, 000 

4, 500, 000 

79, 500, 000 



22, 000, 000 
22, 600, 000 
1, 200, 000 
1, 800, 000 
4, 000, 000 
7, 300, 000 



Total. 



384,200,000 ;£64, 400, 000 



Table E. — Estimate of the value and weight in 1864 of the ivool and similar 
material worked up ivith it into worsted and icoollens for export and home 
consumption} 



WORSTEDS. 



Description. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


EXPORTS. 


35, 000, 000 
30, 000, 000 
14, 000, 000 

66, 000, 000 
4, 700, 000 


£5, 417, 377 




7, 945, 633 




2, 852, 815 


HOME. 


13, 200, 000 




1, 200, 000 




2, 984, 175 








Total 


149, 700, 000 


£33, 600, 000 







1 In this estimate all English wool is considered as worked up into worsted, and that which is worked up 
into woollens is supposed to be more than balanced by the foreign wool (Russian, Australian, and others) in 
worsteds. 



WOOL AND MANUFACTURES OF WOOL. 



135 



Table E — Continued. 



WOOLLENS. 



Description. 



Goods, mixed with one-fourth of other material, £890,000, Is. 
Goods, all wool, (foi'eigu,) 3s 



Goods of foreign wool, 3s 

Goods of foreign yarns, 8s , 

Goods, shoddy and extract. Is 

Cotton and other material mixed with wool 



Total. 



18, 000, 000 
43, 500, 000 



1U7, 000, 000 
4, 500, 000 
61, 500, 000 



234, 500, 300 



Value. 



£1,186,815 
6,546,161 



16, 000, 000 
1,800,000 
3, 200, 000 
2, 067, 024 



30, 800, 000 



Under the name of slioddy, wliicli occurs so conspicuously in the 
foregoing tables, an enormous weight of material is used which, until 
recently, was waste. Shoddy was first introduced into use about the 
year 1813, at Batley, near Dewesbiuy. Mungo was adopted in the same 
district, but at a later j)eriod. Shoddy is the produce of soft wooUen 
rags, such as old worn-out carpets, flannels. Guernseys, stockings, and 
similar fabrics. Mungo is the produce of worn-out broad or similar 
cloths of fine quality, as also of the shreds and chppings of cloth. It was 
stated at our inquiry that the term arose in consequence of the diffi- 
culty at first of manipulation. A manufacturer gave some of the mate- 
rials to his foreman, who, after trial in the shoddy machines, came back 
with the remark, "It winna go;" when the master exclaimed, "But it 
mun go!" These woollen rags are collected, packed in bales, and are 
imported from Eussia, Egypt, Tiu'key, the entire area of Europe, India, 
China, and, in fact, from all jiarts of the world where woollen garments 
are worn, and rags produced and can be collected. They come to York- 
shire from districts where iilague, fever, smallpox, and loathsome skin 
diseases extensively prevail. The bales are opened and the rags are 
sorted by human fingers before being placed in machines, which break 
up, tear, separate, and cleanse the fibre for manufacturing uses. Accord- 
ing to the e^ddence we obtained no disease has ever broken out among 
the persons who so manipulate these old woollen rags, although in 
many of the countries in which they are collected they are believed to be 
peculiarly i^lague-bearing materials. The lapse of time in collecting, 
storing, and transmitting these rags, as also the possible destruction of 
any special poisons, by friction or otherwise, must be taken into account. 
The whole of the facts deserve, however, the serious attention of those 
l)ersons who insist that the power of communicating disease is contained 
in a dangerous manner by woollen goods which have been worn by per- 
sons vsuffering fi'om contagious diseases. The experience obtained by 



136 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

the niaiiipulation of shoddy, for upwards of 50 years, proves tliat old 
woollen rags are not in any degree dangerous to the health of those who 
work anu)ng them. ^ 

The shoddy trade, as now carried on in the West Riding, is a remark- 
able instance of the utilization of waste material. The term " shoddy" 
was, in the first instance, one of reproach, but this has ceased to be. 
Shoddy now enters into honorable companionship in official returns with 
British and foreign wools, mohair, silk, and cotton, and is used by 
manufacturers throughout the woollen and Avorsted distri(;ts. By recent 
returns (1800) the total weight of wool and goats' hair — of home and 
foreign growth — used, was about three hundred and ten millions of 
pounds ; the total weight of shoddy and extracts for the same period 
was about seventy-four and one-half millions of pounds, or some thirty- 
three and three-quarter thousand tons ; so that shoddy now forms near 
one fifth, by weight, of the woollen and worsted manufactm-e of the 
district. The woollen trade of Great Britain coidd not be carried on to 
its in'esent extent without shoddy. 

Shoddy is mixed A\'ith wool in i)roportions from one-third to two-thirds 
shoddy or nuingo, and is used in the manufacture of cheap broadcloths, 
fine cloths for ladies' capes and mantles, jnlots, witneys, flushings, 
friezes, petershams, duffels, hoideys, ])addings, linings, cloths used for 
rough and loose great-coats, office-coats, and trousers, pea-jackets, and 
blankets. A considerable quantity is used in the form of flocks for 
beds. Felted cloth is extensively mauufactiu-ed ; it dispenses with 
spinning and weaving, depending on the felting i^roperty of wool by 
reason of the curl in the fibre. The process is carried on by the aid of 
warm moisture, pressure, and milling ; such cloth is used for table-covers, 
horse-cloths, carpets, paddings, druggets, and the coarser and thicker 
kinds for covering steam boilers, steam pipes, and ships' bottoms beneath 
the copper. Some of the finer and better class of felted cloths are 
l)rinted. 

The manufacfure of shoddy and mungo need not produce any .special 
pollution. The rags are torn into fibre by machines specially prepared, 
and the dirt, dust, and fine particles of wool are blown out in such 
manner that this refuse can be collected and sold for manm-e. About 
one-seventh, by weight, of shoddy is so cleaned out as waste in pre- 
paring it. The price obtained for it as manure varies from 10s. to 20a\ 
per ton. Some of the richer sort of waste shoddy is sent into Kent as 
a dressing for hop-gromng. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Page 

Africa, annual production of wool in trf 

Agassiz, Professor, views on the effects of the crosses of races of men 91 

opinion of, in regard to the whiteness of animals 97 

Aix la-Chapelle, production of 61 

American goods, qualities of 21 

manufacturers, duties of 66 

American merino sheep, table of measurements of 72 

diiference in from Spanish merino 73 

Paular family of 73 

Infantado family of 73 

washed wool of 78 

scoured fleeces of 78 

quality of wool of 79 

improvement in 74 

price of rams 75 

ram "Twenty-one per cent., " note 75 

increase of yolk in 76 

Ancyra, description of by Tournefort 94 

Angora, description of its goats by Tournefort 95 

number of goats in district of 99 

Angora goat, impracticability of crossing with common goat ] 05 

importance of acclimatizing the breed in this country 105 

effect of crossing black female with white buck 98 

variety of shawl-wool goat 99 

power to resist extreme cold, but not moisture 97 

results of acclimation in Europe and America 99, 100 

differences between this and common goat 88 

Aniline colors, discovery of by Runge 43 

Perkins violet 43 

affinity of for materials of animal origin, or nitrogenized substances. 44 

stability of 44 

Annual French card wool production 34 

Annual production of wool in France 18 

Great Britain 18 

Spain, Italy, and Portugal 18 

Germany 18 

European Russia 18 

Australia, South America, and South Africa 18 

United States 18 

British North American provinces 18 

Asia 18 

Northern Africa 18 

Antiquity of the woollen trade in England 131 

Appian, mention of stuffs known as Ki.2,iKia by 87 

Appleton, Mr. Nathan, " History of the introduction of the power loom and the origin 

of Lowell," by 27 



138 INDEX. 

Page. 

Archil or orseille, a new kind introduced by MM. Gninon Mamas and Bonnet 42 

Asia, annual production of wool in 18 

Atwood, Stephen, Spanish merinos of 69, 70 

Australia, total production of wool in Ill 

annual production of wool in 18 

Austria, value and amount of production of 61 

fabrics of 19 

B. 

Bachman, Dr. John, reference to paper on Angora goat by 89 

Baird, Professor, opinion of affinity of Rocky mountain goat with antelope 84 

Bauendahl & Co., letter of to Mr. G. W. Bond in regard to mohair or goat's wool. . 104 

in Country Gentleman iu regard to mohair — note 105 

Behrens, Mr. Jacob, statistical tables of 13'6 

Belgium, woollen industry of 60 

fabrics of 19 

Belon, Father, mention of Angora goat first by 87 

Benoville, M., treatise on woollen industry of France 44 

Bernstein, Michel, flock of 16 

Berthollet, M., work on dyeing by H9 

Bigelow, Mr. E. B., remarks of 30 

Billancourt, exhibition at 11 

Bowes Mr., statement in regard to Scotch cassimeres 15 

statement in regard to American merinos 10 

Bradford, manufactures of 6.3 

Brandt, M., description of the Angora goat by 82 

dimensions of specimen examined by 83 

argument of in support of his assertion in regard to the derivation of the 

domestic goat 85 

observations in regard to spinning Angora goat's hair 85 

British North American provinces, annual production of wool in 18 

Buenos Ayres, wools of 8 

C. 

Calico printing, foundation of 39 

Cape wools 8 

Capra, division of the genus by Cuvier 83 

division of the genus by recent zoologists 84 

Card-wool fabrics of various countries 20 

Carpets, American ^2 

Brussels and tapestry 22 

Cashmere goat, note 84 

Cateau, immense establishment 55 

perfection of machinery and processes .56 

wages and condition of the workmen 56 

manufacture of imitation Cashmere shawls . . . — 57 

Centres of woollen industry in France, treatises by M. Eandouig and M. Benoville.. 44 

Chapin, Mr., paper of, in regard to Pacific Mills 25 

Chemical Society in London, publications by 39 

Chenery, Mr. Winthop W., flock of Angora goats of, note 101, 102 

Cheviot sheep, character of 15 

character of wool of i 4 

Chevreul, M., lectures of, to the artisans of Lyons 38 

Cloakings, Austrian 24 



INDEX. 139 



Clothing wools, ability to grow fine, in the United States 9 

Australian 8 

Silesian and Saxon 8 

production of, in the United States in lH6fi 9 

Colbert, regulations for dyeing wools 38 

Columella, no mention of Angora goat by 87 

Combing wools, growth of, in the United States 13 

price of English fleeces in 1855 and 1864 13 

profit of growing, in United States 14 

French and Australian 10 

present consumption of, in United States • 13 

English 13 

necessity of growth of, in United States 113 

extraordinary care taken in growth of, in England 112 

amount of, produced in Canada. , 113 

Combing-wool sheep, profit in keeping. Table by Mr. Winnie 120 

Comparative rates of interest in France, England, and United States, table of 30 

Competition between diiferent countries in the growth of merino wool 119 

Consumption of wool in England at present time 110 

Crompton loom, the 20 

D. 

Dana, Dr., of Lowell, honorable mention of, by French savans 44 

Davis, Dr. J. B., importation of Angora goats by, in 1849 101 

De Kaeppilin, M. , treatise on dyeing 39 

Des Farges, M. , ou the peculiarities of the French merino 12 

Designers of Elbeuf, peculiar character of their work 46 

Diehl, Mr., contribution on the Angora goat 90 

observations by, on flocks of Angora goats in the southwestern States.. 101 

Domestic woollen industry identified with agricultural prosperity 32 

Dyeing, discoveries by Vauquelin 39 

discoveries by Lassarque 39 

new process introduced by Loftet •. 39 

colors fixed by steam 40 

discovery by Mr. Steiner 40 

discovery of cheap process of manufacturing ultramarine by Guimet 40 

the use of madder and colors derived from it .'. . . 40 

advantages resulting from the recent improvements in madder 41 

in France, and the contributions of modern science to the art 38 

Dyes in American carpets 22 

E. 

Echantilleurs, character of their work 46 

Elbeuf, separate establishments of 47 

statistics of Chamber of Commerce of 47 

prices of food in 48 

low tone of morality of workmen of 48 

centre of card-wool industry of France 45 

population and value of production of 45 

facilities for credit in 46 

Elder, Dr., statement of in regard to exportation of wool 32 

England, number of sheep per acre 6 

importation of wool in 1830 7 

importation of wool in 1 864 7 

annual production of wool in ' 13 

exportation of wool at present time 110 



140 INDEX. 

Page. 

English operatives, inferiority of technical education of 

Exposition, fabrics of 

F. 

28 
Factory, system of New England 

Fibre, character of wool 

Fine wools, need of them in United States 

77 
" Fitting sheep," fraudulent practice 

Flannels, opera 

"Fleece and Loom." extract from ' 

Fleischman, Mr., on the results of constantly regenerating with the pure-blooded 

Merino ram 

France, sheep husbandry in 

superiority of her manufactures of wool 

exportation of woollen goods in 1855 and in 1 865 

principal centers of production of woollen fabrics 

products of, in class 29 

products of, in class 30 

exportation of card fabrics in 1865 

annual production of wool in 

exportation of woolen goods in 1861 and in 1863 

French Merinoes, character of 

Merinoes, change effected in 

taste, excellence of 

Full-blooded American Merino sheep 

G. 

Gayot, M., notice by on Merino ovine races exhibited at Billancourt 1 1 

Germania mills, goods of 

exhibition by 

Germany, the woollen manufacture of the ZoUverein 

annual production of wool in 

62 
Great Britain, woollen manufacture in 

annual production of wool in 

Grove, Henry, importation of Saxon Merino sheep by 

Groups of French woollen industry 

H. 

Halifax, manufactures of 

Henry VIII, act in regard to city of York ^ 

Huddersfield, manufactures of ' 

Humphries, Colonel, Merino sheep of 

Huskissbn, Mr., on woollen manufactures of Great Britain 

I. 

Importance to American farmer of the production of combing wool sheep 121 

Importations of wool into Great Britain in 183U, 
Industrial society of Mulhouse, publications by 
Influence of Anglo-French treaty on French artists 



Importations of wool into Great Britain in 183U, 1862, and 1864 110 



J. 

81 



Jardin des Plantes, model and source of societies of natural history 

Jarvis, Mr. William, Merino sheep imported by 



I^DEX. 141 

K. 

Page. 

Kilogram, equivalent of 16 

Knit goods, manufacture of 23 

Knitting machines 23 

L. 

Labor, prices of here and abroad 31 

La Plata, fine wool of HI 

Leeds, manufactures of 63 

Leicester sheep, price of in England and United States 121 

Lo-kao, Chinese green, introduction of 42 

M. 

Machinery, American 29 

Mazamet, workshop nurseries of 52 

Merino combing wools ] 

Negretti, race of : ] ;} 

Mission mills, San Francisco, exhibition of goods of 24 

Mohair, use of in the manufacture of Utrecht velvets 103 

use of in manufacture of shawls 103 

use of in manufacture of lastiugs, cloakings, dress goods, &c 103 

annual export of from Turkey 104 

price of per pound 1 04 

application of in the manufacture of fabrics 102 

Mousselines delaine, manufacture of 25 

Mungo, origin of the word 1 12 

introduction and use of 135 

N. 

National association of wool manufacturers, extract from report of 22 

report of 79 

Negrettis sheep, weight of fleece of 70 

Number of animals domesticated by man 81 

P. 

Pacific mills, success of co-operative organization 130 

wages of work people in 130 

medal awarded to 25 

Patent OfSce Agricultural Report, paper on Angora goat, by Dr. John Bachman 89 

Pood, equivalent of 16 

Portugal, annual production of wool in 18 

" Practical Shepherd," principles of breeding discussed in 92 

Price of Leicester or Cotswold sheep in England and United States 121 

Production of wood in England at present time 110 

Profit in keeping combing wool sheep, table by Mr. Winnie J 20 

Prussia, fabrics of 19 

Q- 

Quatrafages, M. de, discussion by on the formation of races 91 

R. 

Ranibouillet, flock of Angora goats at 100 

Randall, Dr., observations on the principles of breeding 92 

Randonig, M., treatise by on woollen industry of France 44 

Relative cost of production of American and foreign fabrics 28, 29 

Region du Midi, centre of card wool industry of France 50 

towns which it comprises 51 



142 INDEX. 

Page. 

Eegion du Midi, production of peculiar fabrics for the Levant, for the army 51 

workshop nurseries of 52 

pecuHar customs at Villeneuvette 52 

wages of work men in 53 

Rhienis, centre of combing wool industry of France 53 

production of merino fabrics 53 

improvements in combing wool 53 

power loom applied to manufacture of merino fabrics 54 

the United States the outlet for its goods 55 

importance of manufacturing merino fabrics in United States 55 

wages and condition of workmen of 55 

Rivers Aire and Calder, pollution of water of 131 

Roubaix, the rival of Bradford 57 

history of its growth 57 

public sentiment of opposed to Anglo-French treaty 58 

excellent character of its fabrics 58 

fabrics of for women and children 59 

amount of wool consumed in 1843 ; amount of goods produced 59 

wages of workmen in 59 

Russia, fabrics of ._ 20 

European, annual production of wool in 18 

vast scale of sheep husbandry in 16 

S. 

Sacc, M. , opinion of on crossing Angora with common goat 89 

Saxon merino sheep, introduction of 69 

Saxony wool, importance of the growth of in this country ^ 108, 109 

Sedan, manufactures in 49 

superiority of the moral tone of its workmen 49 

wages of workmen in 50 

Shawls, excellence of American 79 

Shoddy, manufacture of 19 

amount of manufactured . 112 

introduction and use of 135, 136 

Silk-mixed goods, use of 23 

• origin of 49 

Slater, Mr. , goods exhibited by 8 

South America, annual productiou of wool in 18 

Spain, annual production of wool in 18 

Spanish merino sheep, importations of, by JohuT. Rich, Francis Rotch and Henry D. 

Grove 70 

weight of wool of 71 

table of measurements of 72 

faults and merits of 69, 70 

St. Hilaire Geofifi-ey, assent of, to opinions of M. Brandt and M. Sacc 86 

Strabo, no mention of Angora goat by 87 

Stursberg, Mr. H., medal awarded to 24 

Symons, Mr., statement of, in regard to woollen manufacture of the United Kingdom. 63 

T. 

Tariff legislation, importance of = 31 

Tchihatcheft, M., memoir on Angora goat 86 

Tilebert, M., flock of 16 

Tour d'Aigues, M. de la, observations on breeding the Angora goat 93 

Tournefort, M., description of the ancient city of Ancyra and the goats of Angora — 94 

Turkey, fabrics of 19 



INDEX. 143 

U. 

Page. 

United States, number of sheep per acre 6 

annual production of wool 18 

future sheep husbandry 15, 16 

Ure, Dr. , on the habits of the silk weavers of Lyons 1 37 

Utrecht velvets, manufacture of, in France 1 03 

V. 

Value of woollen goods manufactured in the United States in ]864. Table 123 

Verviers, production of 60 

wages of workmen in 61 

Vesey, Mr., facts by, on the production of Aix-la-Chapelle 61 

Villeneuvette, peculiar custouis in 52 

W. 

Walworth, Mr. Joseph, letter of 1 J8 

Washington Mills, medal awarded to 24 

Water, use of, in the manufacture of woollen cloth 1 32 

Webster woollen mills, S. Slater & Sons, medal awarded to 24 

West of England, fabrics of 19 

West Riding of Yorkshire, advantages of, for woollen manufacture 62 

manufactures of 62 

cost of living aud wages in 64 

Woollen industry of Europe 32 

manufactures in Europe 17 

Worsted wools, where grown 1 19 

manufactures of England 118 

United States 119 

' ' Wrinkles on ' ' Merino sheep, objections to 77 

Y. 

Yolk, development of 10 

increase of, in American Merino 76 

Youatt, Mr., observations of, in regard to the breeding of horses 92 

ZoUverein, wages of workmen in 61 



PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. 
REPORTS OP THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. 



H E P» O JEl T 



UPON 



WOOL AID lAIUPACTIJRES OF VOOL, 



BV 



E. R. M U D QE, 

UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER, 



ASSISTED BY 



JOHN L. HAYES, 

se<;retarv of the "national association of wool manufacturers. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1868. 



PAKIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. 
REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. 



H E F O R T 



BETON-COIGNET, 



ITS FABEICATION AID USES : 



CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS, WATER-PIPES, TAMS, FOUNDATIONS, 
WALLS, ARCHES, BUILDINGS, FLOORS, TERRACES, 
MARINE EXPERIMENTS, ETC., 



LEONARD F. BECKWITH, 

CIVIL ENGINEER. 



'"^.: 



WASHi:^GTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1868. 



PREFACE. 



The following remarks on betou-coignet are drawn from numerous 
partial reports which have appeared from time to time during the last 
fifteen years, and from xiersonal observations on the methods in actual 
use, which are somewhat in advance of the publications on the subject. 

LEONAED F. BECKWITH, C. E. 
Fauis, December, 1867. 



^ CONTENTS. 



^ NATURE AND VARIETIES OF BETON. 

DEFINITIONS. 

Common beton — Common beton for marine uses — Beton-coignet. 

THEORY. 

Theory of the concretion of common mortar— Observation on sandstone — Conclusions. 

COMPOSITION, 

Elements — Mixing — Use — Compacting. 

VARIETIES. 

Common lime— Hydraulic lime — Cement — Slacking — Varieties of sand — Proportion. 
FABRICATION AND PROPERTIES OF BETON. 

MIXING. 

Mixing, cylinder — Driving gear — Elevator — Locomobile — Description of engine — General 
view — Details of fabrication. 

PACKING AND MOULDING. 

Packing — Moulding in place — Moulding in blocks. 

PROPERTIES. 

Table of experiments on the strength of beton — Table of relative strength of building mate- 
rials. 

APPLICATIONS OF BfiTON— CONCLUSION. 

APPLICATIONS. 

Warehouses — Churches — Granaries — Cellars — Foundations — Arches and vaults — Walls — 
Floors — Terraces — Roofs — Flagging — Sidewalks — Foundations for machinery — Sewers- 
Aqueducts — Water-pipes — Table of dimensions and cost of sewers in beton — Cistern — 
Reservoirs — Tanks — Cess-pools — Marine structures — Experiments. 

CONCLUSION. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Plate I. Portable Apparatus for Mixing the Materials. 
Plate II. Application of BfeTON-CoiGNET to Building. 



BETONCOIGNET. 



KATUEE AND VARIETIES OF BfiTON. 

DEFINITIONS. 

Coiniuoii beton is a conglomeration of sand, pebbles, broken stones, 
common lime, and water. 

Common beton for marine uses is a conglomerate of similar stones, 
hydraulic lime and water. 

Beton-coignet, to which this memoir chiefly relates, is an artificial 
stone formed of sand, lime and water, and is used in blocks or in contin- 
uous masses for foundations, walls above and below ground, sewers, 
water-pipes, floors, pillars, arches, embankments, aqueducts, reservoirs, 
cisterns, and the entire walls of buildings. 

The elements are the same as those of common mortar for masonry, 
but the relative proportions of each, the method of making", and the 
results are different. 

THEORY OF CONCRETION. 

Common mortar being composed of sand, lime, and water, the theory 
of its concretion may be briefly stated as follows : 

1. The chemical changes which occiu" from the contact of quicklime 
(oxide of calcium) and Avater produce hycU-ate of lime, and the subse- 
quent absorption of carbonic acid from the air, displacing the water, 
produces carbonate of lime. 

2. The strength and hardness of mortar result from the cohesion ot 
sand and carbonate of lime, and from the crystallization of the carbonate 
which grasps and binds the grains of sand. 

3. Homogeneity deijends upon the equal and uniform diffusion of the 
lime among the sand. 

4. An excess of lime in i)roj)ortion to sand produces great shrinkage and 
imperfect crystallization, and leaves the mass brittle and weak. 

5. An excess of water in proportion to lime cannot combine with it, 
but lodges between the particles of sand and lime, and by slow evapoia- 
tion leaves the mass porous and friable. 

6. The practical difticidties are, first, to find the proportions in which 
the elements will best combine ; and, second, to produce the conditions 
most favorable to their combination. 

Observation : Common sandstone is usually composed of large quanti- 
ties of silicious sand and small quantities of some cementing substance, 
oxide of iron, clay, carbonate of lime, &c., &c. ; therefore, 



6 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

7. The right ek^meiits being properly mixed and in dne proportions, 
each grain of sand enveloped in a coating of moistened lime, and all the 
grains brought into contact, the conditions in short being right, crystal- 
lization should be sinudtaneous and uniform throughout the mass. 

This line of thought, i)ursued through a long series of experiments, 
has produced the beton-coignet, a kind of calcareous sandstone, of great 
durability, admirably adapted to numerous and common wants and of 
small comparative cost, its elements being found in abundance in all 
countries. 

COMPOSITION. 

A large quantity ot sand, a smaller quantity of lime and a little water; 
only water enough for quick assimilation with the lime to jjrepare it 
for crystallization, and lime enough, when uniformly diffused, to form a 
thin coating to the grains of sand. 

These ingredients when properly manipulated are barely moist, but the 
preparation is complete and ready for use. 

The mixture is handled with shovels and transported in carts and 
wheelbarrows, the same as dry sand. It may be spread on the ground 
for foundations or iioors, placed in moulds for blocks of different models 
and sizes, and shovelled into cribs of planks to give shape to walls, or 
dumped into trenches pro\dded with wooden forms for the sides and 
arches of sewers. 

The beton when placed should be slightly compacted by the use of 
light hand-pestles, to perfect the contact of particles and hasten the pro- 
cesses of solidilication. In a short time the spontaneous action which 
foUows will be complete, and the forms may be removed. 

VARIETIES. 

Betons cemented with different sorts of lime attain the same final 
solidify and strength, but require various i)eriods of time for consolida- 
tion. 

Common lime sets slower than hydrauli(r lime, and the latter sets 
slower than cement; in other words, crystallization is quicker in each of 
the varieties named, reversing the order. 

Hydraulic lime, in addition to quicklime, contains alumina oxide of 
iron, silica, magnesia, &c., &c., and cement consists of similar elements 
with the alumina, silica, &c., augmented; the latter hardens quicker 
than the preceding and gives a finer and smoother surface. 

Consequently, when time is of importance and structures are required 
for immediate use, hydraidic lime is substituted for common lime; and 
to quicken the result, a portion of cement is usually added. 

Lime for common mortar should be slacked at least 24 hoiu-s before it 
is mixed. For beton-coignet the lime should be slacked but two or 
three hours before it is mixed; barely enough water should be applied to 
reduce it to powder, and the supplementary water applied in mixing 



BETON-COIGNET. 7 

should be only sufficient to render the lime damp and adhesive, leaving- 
still in the lime a capacity for the absorijtion of water. The natural 
affinity of the lime for moistiu-e being thus incompletely satisfied, renders 
the taking or crystallization more vigorous and rapid, and promotes the 
subsequent carbonation by the readier absorption of carbonic acid. 

Coarse sand makes a harder beton than fine sand, and the taking is 
stronger. Clean river sand, one-twentieth to three-twentieths of an inch 
in diameter, is best; all kinds, however, are used, and if it contains earthy 
particles, more liine is required ; fine sand requii-es greater care and more 
packing for consolidation. 

Beton-coignet may be described general^ as composed of: Sand, 4 to 
5 parts in volume ; lime, common or hydraulic, 1 part in volume ; cement, 
^ to f of 1 part in volume ; water, variable. But the exact proportions 
vary in conformity with the variations in the properties inherent in the 
elements, which wiU be subsequently noticed. 

FABEICATION AND PROPERTIES OF BfiTON. 

MIXINGr. 

The machinery most in use for mixing consists of a vertical cylinder, 
an oblique elevator, and a locomobile for working the machine. 

Mixing cylinder. — The drawing (Plate I, Fig. 1) represents the cylinder 
and elevator in place, drawn to scale, a, section of the vertical cylinder 
showing the interior. It is constructed of boiler-j)late, and rests on a 
cylinder or base of cast iron h, with projecting arms for supports and for 
sustaining the bottom plate P, which is suspended, c, a vertical shaft 
passing through the centre of the cylinder, to which shaft curved arms d, 
are attached, which revolve horizontally, for mixing the sand and lime. 
Q, a distributor, which rcA^olves horizontally, recei\dng the lime and sand 
as they enter the cylinder fiom the conducting trough I, and distributing 
them equally around for mixing. 

Fig. 2. d c Q represents an inverted curved arm, distributing arm, 
and cross-section of vertical shaft, dd, cross-section of the curved arm. 

E E, short stationary horizontal arms, which are attached to the sides 
of the cylinder, forming with the movable arms breaks for dashing and 
mixing the sand and lime, e e, three warped or helicoidal blades attached 
to the lower part of the shaft for forcing the mixture downwards and 
outwards. //, cycloidal arms revolving horizontally near the floor of the 
cylinder, to expel the mixture at the side opening around the bottom. 

Fig. 3. Horizontal section of the cylinder, presenting a vertical view 
of the helicoidal blades eee, and of the cycloidal arms fff, below them. 
<j, a horizontal opening at the base of the cylinder for the expulsion of 
the mixture. GG, a movable ring or band of iron, passing around the 
cylinder, for enlarging or diminishing the opening for the expulsion of 
the beton by moving the band up or down, h h, vertical guiding shafts 



8 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

and pegs for tlie movable baud. HH, the liandles for liftiiij;- it up aud 
letting- it down. P. iuiuiovable bottom plate. N, a plate which is attached 
to the vertical shaft c, aud revolves horizontally. L, a curved ])late of 
iron fixed to the plate P, remaiuiug stationary, and scraping off the mix- 
ture from N as it revolves. S, the support of the vertical shaft c; it is 
of cast-iron, and bolted to a ring on the upjjer edge of the cylinder a. 

Fig. 4. Cross-section of the support S of the vertical shaft c. 

Driving gear. — The dii\ang gear consists of: j, a bevel wheel iixed to 
the vertical shaft c; receives its motion from A; a bevel wheel on the hori- 
zontal shaft m. i, fly-wheel. /, fast pulley on the shaft m, run by the 
crossed belt nn, which connects it with the fast pulley o, of equal diame- 
ter, ou the shaft q. p, a spur wheel fixed to shaft g, and engaging ^vitli t, 
a pinion on the shaft /•, to which is fixed a driving pulley run directly by 
a belt from a locomobile (portable steam-engine) stationed near by. 

Elevator. — The elevator is supported on a double frame M, and consists 
of small sheet-iron buckets v, attached to an endless chain u. Each frame 
is composed of two pieces MM, united by a joint ir, and strengthened at 
intervals mth iron plates in which are set rollers u\ The upi^er ends of 
the frames are bolted to the support R of the shaft r, and the lower ends 
to the support T. The endless chain revolves round two drums .s- z. The 
dnmi s at the upper end transmits the power from the shaft r to the chain 
M. The drum z supports the chain at the lower end, and keeps it in 
position. 

The mixing apparatus j)roduces daily about 100 cubic yards of beton, 
and is run by a locomobile, or portable steam-engine, of about eight horse 
power. 

Locomobile. — The annexed drawing (Plate I, Fig. 5) presents a side 
view of the locomobile, which is uon -condensing and double-acting. It 
is provided with a cylinder for warming the water by the escaped steam, 
aud the whole is placed on springs. The nimiber of revolutions per 
minute is about 100 ; length of stroke IG inches ; diameter of steam cylin- 
der 8 inches. The pressure of steam is 5 atmospheres, corresi)onding to 
73 pounds on the square inch. 

Description of engine. — A, fire-box. B, tubular boiler. 0, water-gauge. 
1), steam-reservoir. E, safety-valve. F, pipe supi^lyiug steam to cylin- 
der. G, centrifugal governor. H, steam-cylinder. I, eduction pipe. J, 
steam-pipe for cleauiug. K, warming cylinder. L, smoke-box. M, mov- 
able sections of chimney. jST, connecting-rod. O, fly-wheel and driving- 
pulley combined. P, bearing wheels of engine. Q, fore-wheels. 

General view. — Fig. 6 presents a general view of the arrangement ot 
the apparatus for work. A, barrels of lime. B, sifting the sand. S, 
mixing the lime and sand and passing it into the buckets of the elevator 
E. T, shoot. C, mixing (cylinder. L, locomobile. 

Details of fabrication. — Alternate layers of sand and lime thrown into 
a heap, about a cubic yard in quantity, are inixed with shovels on the 
ground, and then passed into the buckets of the elevator. The latter 



BETON-COIGNET. 9 

disclmrges into the inclined slioot T, whicli conducts to the mixiiig 
cylinder. ^\nien cement is added, it should be previously well mixed 
with a little water in a trough, throuoh which revolves ai small shaft with 
arms, and then added in small quantities to the materials in the cylinder. 
The mixing apparatus being in operation, small quantities of water, a 
glass or pint at regular intervals of time, are thrown in at the top of the 
cylinder by a boy stationed for that puri)ose. To insure regiilarity in the 
distribution, a circular pipe round the upper end of the cylinder a is 
sometimes used. It is pierced- at regular intervals with a series of small 
holes, through which the water, supi)lied from a reservoir above, trickles 
into the cylinder. The quantity of water to be added varies with the mate- 
rials, and must be regulated by observation. The beton issuing fiom the 
cylinder should be moist, and when made into a ball and slightly com- 
pressed in the hands, should retain its form and harden rapidly. The 
mixture in the lower part of the cylinder 1) is forced downwards by the 
lielicoidal arms e, and outwards by the cycloidal arms /j through the 
opening </, extending round the cylinder. The expulsion through the 
opening g pushes it off the bottom plate P, at every point of its circum- 
ference, and falling on the revolving plate N, it is carried round till 
arrested by the fixed scraper L, which collects and shoots it off on to the 
ground or into boxes. 

For ordinary masonry, one mixing is sufficient; for liner work, a second 
mixing in the same apparatus is advisable. 

When a rapid taking is necessary, as in winter work, &c.,- the mixture 
may be artificially heated up to about 212° Fahr. (100° C) during the 
operation of mixing. For this purpose heated air or steam is introduced 
into the mixing cylinder through a pipe bored with small openings, or 
else the cylinder itself may be heated by a spiral tube in which steam or 
hot water circulates. Heating quickens the drying and hastens the 
taking and hardening of the materials ; it also darkens the color. 

PACKING. 

The beton taken directly from the mixing cylinder is shovelled into 
moulds or forms in successive layers and compressed moderately by hand- 
pestles weighing from 15 to 30 pounds. (Plate II, Fig. 7.) Generally If-^ . 
Cubic yards of loose material from the mixing apparatus will thus compact 
into a cubic yard of wall. 

MOULDING. 

There are two methods of moulding: 1st. Moulding in place. — Walls 
for buildings are constructed in sections of about 3 feet in height, and 10 
to 15 feet in length. For this purpose a crib or framework and boards, 
forming two sides of a box, is constructed with an interior space equal 
to the thickness of the intended wall ; the sides of the crib are kept in 
place by small iron r(xls which connect them, passing through the wall, 
and to be subsequently withdrawn. The loose beton is shovelled into 



10 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

tlic crib and compacted with the pestle; subsequently the connecting 
rods are withdrawn, the sides of the crib or mould are lifted u]), a second 
section is formed in like manner on the top of the first, and the work 
continues in this way till the wall reaches the required height. 

Plate II, Fig. 8, presents a side view of the crib or mould. Fig. 9, a cross- 
section of crib and wall. Fig. 10, horizontal section of crib and wall, with 
splayed opening for window, door, &c. 

2d. Moulding in Modes. — Building blocks of various sizes, hardness and 
forms, with or without ornaments, are miide of beton in moulds, in the 
same manner as sections of wall above described, and the blocks are laid 
with joints of mortar like other stone. Blocks and slabs for balconies, 
steps, fountains, columns, cornices, pilasters, &c., are formed in like 
manner. 

PROPERTIES. 

Different varieties of beton-coignet tested at the Conservatoire des Arts 
ct Metiers give the following results, indicated in the annexed table. 



BETON-COIGNET. 



11 



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12 



PAKIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 



All exaii dilation of tlu' preceding- table Avill sliow tliat the strength or 
bearing jiower of ea(;h variety of betoii is sufficient for ordinary uses, but 
that the differences are great; and a more careful study will trace these 
dift'ereuces to the properties of vaiious sands, to the i)roportions of sand, 
lime, cement and water, and to the i)eculiar ingredients inherent in the 
various limes, derived from different localities. 

But an elaborate exi)lanatioii of the table would have no_ jiarticular 
value, as similar substances derived from different localities are never 
exactly alike, and the best mixture in each particular case must be ascer- 
tained by actual experiments, which are easily made, the results being 
simple and obvious. 

Most of the betons in the preceding table are stronger than is neces- 
sary for ordinary uses, and if used, the thickness of the structures as 
compared with common masonry may be diminished. For the more com- 
mon ijurposes betons of more sand and less lime are used. 

The tensile and bearing strength of betons is variable, as is that of 
every kind of stone. The following table shows the range of strength 
in the particular kinds, and the relative strength of the different kinds 
of building materials named : 





Mortar. 


Beton. 


Brick. 


Limestone. 


Sandstone. Granite. 




280 

to 

2,100 


2,634 
to 
7, 495- 


550 
to 

1, 700 


4,000 

to 
5,000 


4, 000 1 5, 500 

to I to 
5 000 ! 11 000 










50 
to 

290 


288 
to 
426 


115 
to 

280 


120 
to 

864 


180 




to 
900 











A cubic yard of beton weighs about 3,700 pounds. 

APPLICATIOX OF BlilTON— CONCLUSIOJ^. 



WAREHOUSES, CHURCHES, GRANARIES, CELLARS, FOUNDATIONS. 

Structures and buildings of solid masses of betoii suffer less than 
ordinary materials from uneciual settling of the ground, and underground 
rooms and cellars built of it are particularly free from damp. 

The railway station at Suresnes, several houses at St. Denis, the church 
at Vesinet, «&c., are examples of this kind, and from the absence of joints 
are the same as if made of one blo(;k of stone. 

Cheap dwellings for workmen are now in course of construction in 
several localities in France. 

A small house of beton-coignet was exhibited at the Champ de Mars, 
with specimens of arches, piers, slabs, statues, fountains, &c., finely 
moulded and well made by Mr. Coignet. 

The materials for common work of the above kind are five parts of 
sand, one of lime, and the ordinary quantity of water. 



BETON-COIGNET. 13 



ARCHES AND VAULTS. 

Various experimeuts have been made Tvitli good results to test the 
strength of beton for arches, and it is now much used for that purpose ; 
in the structures of the ^N'orthern railway, at Paris, in the new prison of 
the Madelonnettes, and in the new barracks of Notre Dame. In the lat- 
ter, an arched vault was built, of 18 feet span, 1^ foot versed sine, 8^ 
inches thick at the croAvn, with surface of 14 square yards, on which 
experimental weights of 17 tons were placed for a fortnight without 
damage. Beton was afterwards used for all the similar arched vaidts in 
the building, giving a surface of 3,588 square yards. 

An experimental arch on the quay de Billy, has a span of 55^ feet, 
versed sine 4 feet, thickness of crown 14 inches, with good results. 

At Aubervilliers the machinery of a considerable saw mill is placed 
on an arch of 33 feet span, versed sine 6^ feet. 

The ventilation of the Exhibition building, at the Champ de Mars, is 
effected by underground works, consisting of a series of circular and 
radial galleries, arched with beton, span about 10 feet, for the circulation 
and supply from below of cool air through openings in the floor. 

The outer gallery is 33 feet in width, and 1,443 yards in length ; the 
groined arches of beton are supported on two rows of beton pillars, 864 
in number, carrying- a roof, the uppyer surface of which forms a floor of 
15,873 square yards of sui-face. 

The quantity of beton consumed in these galleries was 353,160 cubic 
feet. Plate II, Fig. 11, is a cross section of the outer gallery. 

The materials of this structure were: Four parts of sand, one of lime, and 
one-half part of Portland cement. 

WALLS. 

The embankment on which runs the avenue de 1' Empereur, at tho 
Trocadero, for a quarter of a mile is supported by a wall of beton about 
40 feet high ; the outer side is strengthened by pilasters ; the inner side 
consists of a series of arches at right angles to the wall, built one upon 
the other, and extending into the embankment, forming a bearing for 
the mass of earth, and diminishing- its lateral pressure against the wall. 
The walls and arches are a solid mass of beton. Plate I, Fig. 6. 

The steeple of the church of Yesinet is constructed of beton, 130 feet 
high, and shows no sign of weakness. 

FLOORS, TERRACES, ROOFS. 

If the area does not exceed 13 or 16 feet in width, a slab of beton 10 
or 12 inches thick will be strong enough to sustain itself; if the area be 
greater, double T-joists of iron shoidd cross the space for ceilings, floors, 
&c., and the slabs of beton may be made thicker or thiAner, depending on 
the distance of the joists one from another, the flanges of which form 
the holding of the slabs. 



14 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Joists being thus placed and a temporary scaffbldinft- or floor of boards 
erected underneath, the betou is dumped upon it and i)acked, the edges 
hold u]ion the flanges, the be-ton hardens, the scafl'olding is removed and 
the ceiling remains Arm; if the upper side should serve for a floor also, 
the beton should be laid thicker and carried over the joists so as to form 
a smooth suiface above them. 

Beton for this work should be five parts of sand, one part of lime, and 
one-fourth part of cement. 

FLAGGING, SIDEWALKS. 

Beton being impervious to water and without joints, no moisture is 
absorbed beneath, if the ground be ])roperly drained; therefore no 
liea\'ing or disturbance results from frosts in the ground. Flagging and 
floors of beton for courts, stables, cellars, coach-houses, schools, railway 
stations, warehouses, &c., &c., are much used. 

Sand five parts, lime one part, cement one part. 

FOITSTDATIONS FOR MACHINERY. 

Foundations for machinery of beton are usually cheaper and as good 
as masonry of stone. For engines, jj cubic yard of beton corresponds to 
a horse-power, and a 30 horse-jjower engine should have 30 cubic yards 
of foundation. 

Foundations of beton for water-wheels and turbines may be seen at 
St. Maur, for steam engines at the percussion aq) factory at Paris, the 
tobacco factory at Chateaiu-oux, the glass works at St. Gobain, &c.; at 
Oyssel a steam-engine of 400 horse-power, which works admirably, rests 
on a block of beton 7 yards in thickness, and at the Exposition of 1867 
a great portion of the machinery was placed on beton foundations laid 
in winter, and worked well. 

Composition : sand five parts, lime one part, cement one-fourth part. 

SEWERS, AQUEDUCTS, WATER-PIPES. 

Twenty-five miles of main sewers in Paris have been made of beton, 
and its use for this purpose is rapidly increasing. 

A trench is cut as usual, a floor of beton is laid on the bottom, a frame- 
work of timber and boards introduced as for masonry to give form to 
the sides and arch ; the beton is dumi)ed and packed by the commonest 
labor, the wood- work removed, and the sewer is finished. 

The regulations for sewers requiring walls of 10 inches of stone 
umsonry admit of walls of 8 inches in beton; their construction of beton 
requires less time ; the economy in masonry is reckoned at 30 per cent., 
and the sa\ing on the whole work at 20 per cent. 



BETOX- COIGNET. 



15 



Dimensions and cost of the principal seicers in heton of Paris. 





Dimensions of sewer. 


Area in square yards of cross- 
section of sewer. 


Length in yards of inner cir- 
cumference of cross-section 
of sewer. 


.a 
a 
a 

"3 
o 

fl 
a 


linear 


linear 
g cost 
e, and 


Type of sewer. 


1 

ja 
■♦a 
£ 

O 


.2 

1 

'•3 

« 

5 


Cubic feet of b6ton per 
foot of sewer. 


Entire cost in Paris per 
foot of sewer, includii 
of excavation, centrin 
masonry. 




Feet. 
9,186 
9,022 
7,874 
4,493 
7,054 
6,562 
6,234 
5,577 


Feet. 
7,546 
6,562 
5,641 
2,296 
4,265 
3,281 
2,524 
2, 524 


Sg. yards. 
6,045 
5,071 
3,959 
0,969 
2,894 
],794 
1,419 
1,292 


Yards. 
8.667 
8,503 
7,170 
4,044 
6,492 
5,574 
5,301 
4,263 


Inches. 
10. 63 
9.45 

7.87 
10. 25 

7.87 
7. 37 
7.87 
7.87 


Cub. feet. 
26, 156 
22, 075 
15, 608 
9,257 
14, 639 
12, 465 


$5 92 


9 


5 00 


10 


3 53 


11 


2 35 


12 


3 31 




3 18 


2 


11,948 1 3 04 


3 


11,087 1 2 84 









Plate II, Fig. 12, is a cross-section of a large sewer in beton, (tji)e No. 8,) 
showing the mode of construction and the appearance when finished. 
Fig. 13, a water-pipe. 

Water-pipes of beton are made at half the expense of iron and they cost 
little for repairs. The whole of the underground drainage of 40 acres 
roofed by the palace of the Exhibition was through beton pijies of 12 
to 16 inches tube discharging into sewers of beton. The cubic contents 
of materials used in these pipes amounted to 264,825 cubic feet. 

For the sewers of Paris, and for this service, the following proportions 
of materials were used: 

175 cubic feet of sand. 
35 cubic feet of hydraulic lime. 

550 pounds heavy Paris cement, equivalent to Portland cement. 

CISTERNS, RESERVOIRS, TANKS, CESS-POOLS. 

These, when built of masonry and coated with cement, are impervious to 
water, but need constant repairs ; of beton they are equally impervious, 
cost less and are more seciu-e. 

A cistern 39 feet in depth, 5 feet in diameter, with sides of 10 inches 
in thickness, after two days receives water, and remains soimd an hidefi- 
nite period. 

The cess-pools of beton authorized by the prefect of the Seine in 1862 
are without cement, hold good, and are water-tight; structures of this 
kind are adopted for the great opera-house now building, and for the 
great railroad stations, &c., &g. 

Gasometer tanks of large dimensions, 130 feet diameter, 49 feet in 
depth, are built of common betou-coignet at Eueil and St. Denis. The 



16 PAEIS UNIVEESAL EXPOSITION. 

difficulties of making structures of this size in iimsoury wtiter-tiglit are 
said to be much less in beton. 

Composition: live parts of sand, one of lime, and one-half part of 
cement. 

MABINE STRUCTURES. 

For the foundations of breakwaters and piers stones of irregular and 
various sizes are used, but small stones are preferred. Being cast into 
the sea without order and left to find their position as they sink, small 
stones paclc closer and form beds more solid than large ones; they are also 
less liable to disturbance than large stones from the "hydraulic press 
action" of waves arrested in their horizontal movement and thrown 
downwards. 

Banks or ridges with more or less sloping sides are thus raised from 
the bottom of the sea nearly to the surface at low tide, and upon these 
walls of masonry are built of sufdcient height and thickness to resist the 
force of the sea. 

The force of the waves against a vertical wall, as measured in different 
localities, shows the following results, in weather ranging from ordinary 
to tempest : At Cette, in the Mediterranean, from 14,000 to 24,000 pounds 
per square yard; Bell Eock, Scotland, as high as 30,675 pounds per 
square yard ; island of Serry^^or, Scotland, 5,000 to 10,000, and 55,760 
pounds per square yard ; Oherboiu-g, 30,000 to 55,000 pounds per square 
yard. 

The horizontal movement arrested by a wall in deep water becomes 
vertical and produces a descending wave of great force, which tends to 
excavate and sweep away the bank and undermine the wall. 

The banks or foundations are therefore protected by covering the slopes 
with large blocks of stone, of sufficient size and weight to resist displace- 
ment by the descending waves, and in very exposed situations the talus 
of blocks thus formed is raised above the surface to afford protection also 
to the wall. 

The difficulties and expense of obtaining blocks of stone sufficient in 
size and abundan(;e for this purpose have led to the use of artificial blocks 
of concrete. These blocks are also extensively used to form the inte- 
rior of walls and piers, the facings being of stone. In solidity and 
strength they are equal to the purpose, but they suffer more from the 
action of sea- water than the best kinds of stone, which is attributable 
to the ingredients in the cementing substance. 

Hydraulic limes. — Hydraulic limes are exceedingly variable in their 
elements, but may be divided into three general classes — silicious, alumi- 
nous, and cements. 

Silicious limes. — Limestone composed of carbonate of lime intimately 
mixed with fine silicious sand, after burning leaves 70 to 80 per cent, of 
quicklime, and 30 to 20 i^er cent, of silicate of lime, forming a hydraulic 
lime usually called "• silicious," and expressed by the fornmla : 

CaO. + SiO^ 3 CaO. 



BETON-COIGNET. 17 

Slaking of tliis produces hydrate of lime and hydrous-silicate of lime; 
formula : 

n. CaO. HO. + SiOl 3 CaO. 6 HO. 

Aluminous limestone. — Limestone containing- 8 to IS per cent, of clay, 
the principal elements of which are hydi'ous-silicates of alumina, after 
burning leaves 70 to 80 per cent, of quicklime, and 30 to 20 per cent, of 
mixed silicates and alumina, forming an hydraulic lime called "alumin- 
ous," which, after slaking, is expressed by the formula: 

n. CaO. HO + SiO^. 3 CaO. 6 HO + AP O^*. 3 CaO. 6 HO. 

Cement. — Limestone containing from 18 to 3(3 per cent, of clay, which 
leaves after biu-ning quicklime, silicate of lime, alumina, silicate of alumina, 
produces "hydraulic cement," which, after slaking, contains hydrates of 
the preceding elements. 

Hydraulic limes and cements usually contain, in addition to the sub- 
stances above enumerated, small quantities of oxides of iron, silicates 
alumina and magnesia, sulphate of lime, «&c. 

Mortar jiroperly made of either of these limes crystallizes simulta- 
neously, and sets quickly and strongly, though the presence of magnesia 
and sulphate of lime is detrimental to good setting, as these bodies 
crystallize slower; oxide of iron does not impede the setting. 

ACTION OF THE SEA. 

The action of sea- water on hydraulic mortars is excessively comxilicated. 
The elements of lime, as above shown, are variable, and the salts of mag- 
nesia, carbonic acid, and sulphureted hydrogen in sea- water are variable, 
and differ in localities but little removed from each other. 

I do not propose to follow in detail the results of the observations and 
experiments which have been made of various sea- waters on different 
sorts of hydraulic mortar. 

The mortars are all exj)osed to the mechanical action of the sea, and 
to the chemical action of the salts and gases which it holds in solution; 
they are sharx)ly attacked, and the effect is considerable before the 
hydrate of lime on the outer surface is converted into carbonate of lime 
by the absorj)tion of carbonic acid from the water and air. The crust of 
carbonate of lime thus formed resists the chemical action of the sea, and 
the protection thus given to the interior is increased in some cases by 
the growth of sea-shells and of marine plants. The waste is thus dimin- 
ished, but it is never extinguished ; the destruction goes on, and the best 
hycb'aulic mortars are gTaduaUy eaten away. 

Blocks of concrete contain more mortar than masonry of dressed stone; 
they are consequently more exposed to waste from the causes in question, 
and are sooner destroyed. 

Many remedies have been proposed, and numerous trials of them made, 
but hitherto without important and }3ermanent success. The method 
proposed by Mr. Coignet is to get rid of the hydraulic limes and their 
perishable ingredients by the substitution of common lime as the cement- 
ing substance. 
2bc 



18 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 



EXPERIMENTS OF MR. COIGNET. 



Time is evidently required to test experiments of tliis kind, and those 
of Mr. CJoignet are too recent to prove conclusively success or failure. 
His method of experimenting is by continually diminishing the quantity 
of hydraulic lime and cement, and continually increasing the proportion 
of common lime in the composition of his blocks. The blocks are placed 
in exposed positions in different localities to the action of the sea- water, 
and followed by periodical examinations and records of the progressive 
results of the experiments. 

His first experiments were begun, by order of the government, in 
November and December, 1858, and January, 1859, on the Socoa break- 
water at St. Jean de Luz, in a very exposed situation. The blocks were 
of several kinds, as follows: 

First series of blocks. — Blocks made several months before being placed 
in the sea : 

1st. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand and one part of common 
or fat lime. 

2d. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand and one part of lime, 
vslightly hydraulic. 

3d. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand and one part of fat lime, 
and one-fourth to one-half part of cement. 

4th. Blocks composed of seven parts of sand, one part of lime, slightly 
hydraulic, and one-fourth to one-half part of cement. 

These blocks are all alike in good condition at this date, (1867,) and 
have resisted the action of sea -water with satisfactory results. They are 
compact and hard, and the only effect noticed has been the wearing of 
the edges of the blocks and the rounding off' of the angles, produced by 
the friction of pebbles and the general mechanical action of the sea. 
No difference has yet appeared in the durability of blocks made of com- 
mon lime and those containing hydraulic cement. 

Second series of blocks. — This series is composed of 12 small blocks, 
made on land, and allowed to harden for eight days before being placed 
in the sea. 

Six blocks were composed as foUows : 

1st. Seven parts of sand, one part of fat lime. 

2d. Seven i^arts of sand, one part of fat lime. 

3d. Seven parts of sand, one part of artificial hydraulic lime, made of 
fat lime and clay. 

4th. Seven parts of sand, one part of lime, slightly hydi'aulic. 

5th. Seven parts of sand, one part of hydraulic lime. 

6th. Seven i)arts of sand, one part of very hydraulic and siliceous lime. 

The remaining six blocks were composed as follows : Each of seven 
parts of sand, one part of the same varieties of lime as the above blocks, 
with the addition to each of one-foiu-th to one-half part of cement. 

This series of blocks has completely resisted until now (1867) the 



BETON-COIGNET. 19 

action of tlie sea, aud show no trace of decomposition. The blocks of 
fat lime and hydraulic lime are in equally good condition. Some blocks 
are slightly worn by the mechanical action of the sea. 

Third series of hlochs. — Large blocks made on land at the same time as 
the blocks of the second series and allowed to dry for nine months before 
being placed in the sea. 

These blocks were composed in a similar manner and of similar ingre- 
dients to those of the second series. 

Under the influence of this long exiiosui'e to the air, these blocks at 
the end of nine months had attained great hardness and solidity. Their 
structure was compact, and chips could be struck off with a hammer, as 
if the blocks had been made of stone. Some of them showed small cracks 
on the uj)per surface, owing, it is supposed, to the unequal quality of the 
fat lime used in their fabrication. 

\Vheu exposed to the sea they have all proved good, and are alike in 
good condition at this date, (1867,) the fat and hydraulic limes and cements 
giving a similar result. 

Fourth series of hloclcs. — Blocks made in i)lace at low tide, and imme- 
diately covered by the rising tide. 

These blocks, seven in number, were composed as follows : 

Blocks 1, 2, 3, of seven parts of sand, one part of a very hydraulic aud 
siliceous lime, and one-half part of cement. 

Block 4, of seven parts of sand, one part of artificial hydraulic lime, 
and one-half i^art of cement. 

Block 5, of seven parts of sand, one part of hydraulic lime, and one- 
half x^art of cement. 

Blocks 6 and 7, of seven parts of sand, one part of common lime and 
pozzuolana, and one-half part of cement. 

The rocks on which these blocks were constructed are situated at the 
extremity of the breakwater ; at low tide they are uncovered for an hour 
or two, and at high tide are covered with water several metres in depth. 

The moulds were made of thin pine boards and established on the rock 
as a bottom. Their form was a truncated cone of fom- feet diameter of 
base and three feet in height. 

At low tide the moulds were filled with beton and carefully iiacked. 
They were immediately covered by the rising tide and in less than 24 
hoiu's the beton was sufficiently haj?d and firm to allow the moulds to be 
taken apart and the blocks entirely exposed to the sea. 

Examined at the end of nine months, the fom- blocks first mentioned 
were iu perfect condition and showed no sign of decomposition. They 
were very hard and sonorous when struck with a hammer. The 5th block 
was at first partially decomj^osed, but immediately hardened. The 6th 
and 7th blocks were respectively reduced to one-half and three-fourths 
of their original size by the destructive action of the sea. 

At this date (1867) the four first mentioned blocks are in perfect con- 
dition, having comx3letely resisted the action of the sea ; the fifth block 



20 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

is now as bard and solid as the iDreceding ones and shows no signs of 
decay; the sixth and seventh blocks perished in two and a half years, 
which is attribnted to the presence of pozznolana, which had been added 
to (xuicken the taking of the fat lime by rendering it hydi-aiilic. 

EXPERIMENTS AT ^MARSEILLES AND AT CHERBOURG. 

Another series of exj)erinients was commenced at Marseilles at a later 
l)eriod. A large number of blocks of beton-coignet, made with numerous 
varieties of lime and cement, were exposed to the sea on the outer break- 
water of the Bassin Napoleon. When last examined in I^ovember, 1867, 
they were in good condition and had not suffered decaj' ; fat and hydraulic 
limes gi\ang equally good results. 

Lately a number of blocks have been ordered by the navj department 
for fiu-ther experiments at Cherbourg. 

E\"idently the experiments have not been continued long enough to 

test fully the relative resisting qualities against the chemical action of 

sea- water of blocks cemented with common fat lime and blocks cemented 

-with hydraulic lime, since both show thus far equal enduring qualities. 

But the results, on the whole, are interesting and suggest the following 
conclusions : 

1. Common lime can be substituted for hydraidic lime in beton- 
coignet, with an equally durable result, provided the blocks are allowed 
to harden for a few days on land previous to immersion. 

2. Blocks of beton-coignet (sand and hydraulic lime) can be made in 
direct contact with the sea, provided they be protected by a crib during 
the time nenecessary for the taking, say 24 hours. Blocks thus made 
have proved as diu-able as those made on shore, while under similar cir- 
ciunstances of immediate immersion in the sea, and 24 hours' protection 
by a crib, blocks of ordinary concrete (sand, hydraulic lime, and stones) 
made with the same hydraulic lime woidd disappear in a short time. 

3. Blocks of beton-coignet made on land are quite ready for immersion 
after drying and hardening for three or four days, while blocks of hydi-au- 
lic concrete usually require from three to six months for drjdng and 
hardening. 

To supply the daily demand for these blocks of concrete in the con- 
struction of a breakwater large yards are necessary, which are usually 
at a distance from the breakwater. .They must have space for 1,000 to 
2,000 blocks in various stages of fabrication and drying ; they requirb, 
also, a large establishment of machinery and railways ; a large capital 
is thus invested and the exi)ense is hea^^j". 

In making beton-coignet less machinery and plant, less gTOund for 
drying, less preparation in advance are required, the time and capital 
involved are less, and the whole cost is consequently diminished. 

Mr. Coignet noAv proposes the construction of piers and breakwaters 
in the following manner : 

1. Blocks of beton to be made on land, in length equal to the breadth 



BETON-COIGNET. 21 

of the pier and of corresponding size, weighing say 140 tons, to be lowered 
into the sea, and placed side by side, across the line of the pier, for 
fonndation. 

2. The wall to be constructed likewise of beton, in place, forming thus 
a single mass, binding the blocks below by the weight and solidity of 
the wall. 

For this he would use from five to seven parts of sand, one of lime, 
fat or slightly hydraulic, and one-fourth to one-half part of cement. 

But it is not probable that the government engineers consider the 
experience already gained sufficient to warrant them in recommending 
so great an outlay at present as this experiment involves. 

CONCLUSION. 

The materials of beton-coignet exist in abundance in all countries and 
in most localities, seldom requiring long and exi^ensive transportation. 

Sand is easily excavated, lime is a simi^le preparation, and both are 
materials of low cost; most of the labor in making is j)erformed by 
machinery, and little of the manual labor required need be skilled labor. 

Sand, lime, water, machinery, motive force, few tools and common 
labor, are the elements of structures made of beton, and the beton itself 
is well adapted to numerous daily wants, in which solidity, durability, 
and cheapness are preferable to beauty of materials, the e\adeuce of 
which is shown in the ground and underground structures of the gTeat 
palace of the Exposition, and in its increasing application to sewers, 
tanks, foundations, floors, walls, «&c., enumerated in the preceding pages. 

The cost of beton varies with that of the lime and cement enii)loyed. 
In Paris, works in beton cost, including fabrication and construction, 
from $5 to $8 per cubic yard. Flagging, two inches thick, costs 56 cents 
per square yard. 



p/ 



PLATE I 



Leonax'dZ Beci^wit}!. 




A , y 



1 I 1 I _ 1 tlL \A_ 



l-^RU; EXP( .qITIuN 18^/r-P?EP0RT..ON,„^^TH^ FABRICATION OF BETON COTGNET 



Mixing Cylinder. Elevation 



POBTAELE _-\PPAEATUS 



ELATE I 



Cross-Section AE of the mixing C^mder. ^^0^^^^. BecimtJi, 




PAF 






^i 



:a:3':on .jf beton coignet. 



PLATE H. 



Beion Walls 



'PLICATION OF B: 

T^TTTl T> 



jNE T TO Construction of a Sewer c| Beton. Ci 







srn^ 






. '^ \.^;y ^C : © '^' 



mJ^\Mi*^ 






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jfi'^^ti&l 


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mft* 


|J 


Sis s*^?^ 


*'3. 



'VW\^^W'W. 



'S^J'hH. 






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W^^VW^wV 



.:y^i^<^^. 






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" y ■ ■■ ■ .^ 



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tow^^ui^^^U^^^k 



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